Thirty Controversial Anti-Circus Billboards Blanket Los Angeles

Animal Protection Institute
Friday, 14 July 2000

Los Angeles, CA -- Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be met upon arrival in Los Angeles with 30 billboards which show a photograph of elephants in chains with the headline, "The Cruelest Show on Earth." The billboards, sponsored by the Animal Protection Institute and the Performing Animal Welfare Society, also encourage people to "Say NO to Animal Circuses." Locations are available upon request.

Ringling Bros. opens in Long Beach on July 19. We anticipate strong media coverage of Ringling Bros. Circus and urge reporters to include the views of animal advocates in their coverage.

Facts about Ringling Bros. Circus:

- May 1999 -- Ringling Bros. was warned by the Animal Care Division of the USDA for using ropes to forcibly remove two young elephants, Doc and Angelica, from their mothers. Visible scars were left on the legs of the young elephants.

- July 1999 -- Benjamin, a four-year-old elephant, mysteriously drowned while on a stopover from Houston to Dallas, TX.

- August 1999 -- Animal cruelty charges were sought against Ringling Bros. by the San Jose Police and the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley for cuts and puncture wounds found on seven Asian elephants.

- June 2000 -- A former Ringling Bros. employee testified before the U.S. Congress that elephant in the circus "live in confinement and ... are beaten all the time when they don't perform properly."

"When you buy a ticket to the circus, the animals pay the price. People mistakenly believe that animals aren't mistreated in larger circuses like Ringling Bros.," said Dena Jones, Program Director for the Sacramento-based Animal Protection Institute. "Unnatural living conditions, brutal training methods, and a stressful life of travel are common to all circuses, regardless of size. We're placing the billboards to remind people that the only humane circuses are those that don't use animals."

For more information, or to contact Animal Protection Institute, see their website at: www.api4animals.org