What's Ringling Hiding?

Hiding Bullhooks and Injuries

In each city and town on Ringling’s itinerary, animals are forced to participate in a media-oriented “animal parade.” The elephants are unchained and unloaded from the boxcars in which they often spend days at a time. Being barely able to move for so long takes it toll: Some elephants, apparently suffering from arthritis, limp down the ramp and along the route from the rail yard to the arena. It’s an unsettling scene—elephants, horses, and even zebras are herded down bustling city streets, flanked by trainers wielding sharp metal bullhooks. Oncoming traffic in adjacent lanes is often not stopped, and the animals are trailed by a caravan of police cars and flashing lights, causing an extremely chaotic environment that stresses out these sensitive animals and is light years away from their natural habitat. In 1999, a horse collapsed and died during the march, and PETA captured the horse’s collapse on videotape, despite Ringling workers’ attempts to obstruct the camera. No veterinarian was on duty.

Years ago, before the public learned that elephants and other animals were trained by being beaten into submission, the animal parade was announced in advance and took place during the day, and children were encouraged to watch. After PETA called attention to the bullhooks, scars, bloody wounds, and injuries, Ringling started to sneak into town and walk the elephants unannounced, often late at night, hoping to conceal the signs of abuse under the cover of darkness.

The more abuse that PETA has documented over the years, the more secretive Ringling has become. This became very apparent on February 21, 2006, when Ringling canceled its annual animal parade in Norfolk, Virginia, where PETA's headquarters are located. Ringling wouldn’t provide a specific reason why the animals were loaded onto trucks and driven to the arena, completely out of view of the public’s watchful eye, but it doesn't take a detective to figure out that Ringling is trying to hide incriminating evidence.

What You Can Do

• Attend only animal-free circuses, such as Cirque du Soleil and the New Pickle Circus, and steer clear of traveling shows that exploit animals, like Ringling. View a list of animal-free circuses.
• If Ringling is coming to your town, find out when and where the animal parade will be held—that is, if it hasn't been canceled! (You can contact PETA's activist liaison for help finding this information.) Grab a video camera and walk alongside the animals and trainers to document any abuse that you see. If you catch anything on videotape, please let us know!