| Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:11 PM |
"The saddest show on Earth" ....now in Ct
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sassysass
Posts: 27
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Elephants Live in Fear of Beatings
Both Hundley and Tom worked on the animal crew and tell PETA that they witnessed a violent beating of an elephant that lasted at least 30 minutes when Ringling had a layover at the fairgrounds in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When an elephant refused a command to lie down, Ringling’s head elephant trainer, Sacha Houcke, allegedly beat the elephant with a bullhook, hooking her behind the ear, on the leg, and on the back. At one point, he reportedly inserted the hook inside the elephant’s ear canal and pulled on the handle using both hands and the full force of his body weight. The elephant cried out in agony and was left bleeding profusely from severe wounds.
The following were among the whistleblowers’ declarations to PETA:
Elephants are so terrified of the trainers that they begin urinating, defecating, and trumpeting in fear at the sound of their voices.
Elephants are aggressively hooked on a daily basis, and handlers rub dirt into bloody bullhook wounds to conceal them from the public.
Elephants suffering from arthritis are kept on the road.
Elephants are only unchained when the public is around.
Some employees were outraged at Sacha Houcke’s recklessness when he brought Luna and another elephant perilously close to a PETA staffer and assaulted him in Oklahoma City. Luna is extremely dangerous and unpredictable. She has attacked handlers and frequently shows aggression toward people, and employees are regularly warned not to go near her.
The circus knows in advance when U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors are coming for what are supposed to be unannounced inspections.
Horses Beaten and Whipped
Horses are one of the most commonly used animals in circuses, but they receive the least protection, as they are not covered by the federal Animal Welfare Act.
Hundley and Tom reported severe alleged abuse of horses, including the following:
Horses are grabbed by the throat and shoved, jabbed with pitchforks, and given “lip twists,” a sadistic way to inflict pain on one of the most sensitive areas of a horse’s body.
Most of Ringling’s horses are head-shy from being punched in the face so many times. If you try to pet them, they jerk their heads away because they fear being hit.
A handler allegedly tethered a horse named Sonny and whipped the horse with the metal snap of the lead for 10 minutes. The horse was later found to have a broken tooth.
A miniature horse got loose and was repeatedly punched on the back and sides when he was recaptured.
Sacha Houcke allegedly slugged a shrieking miniature horse named Gunther in the face twice with such force that it would have knocked down a full-grown person. The sound of his fist, which could be heard 20 feet away, knocked the horse senseless.
A horse named Mizean had cuts across his sides and back from being viciously whipped.
Miserable Transport Conditions
The former circus employees further report that during transit, elephants are packed inside boxcars so tightly that they are unable to turn around or lie down. On three- and four-day trips, animals are let off the train for exercise only once. Most of the time, they are forced to stand in mountains of foul-smelling feces and urine that fill up to two Dumpsters. Hundley says that the stench inside the boxcars is so bad that it causes people’s eyes to water and their noses to burn.
Some elephants scrape their backs when they are loaded and unloaded from the trains because the openings in the boxcars are not large enough.
Tom described an incident in Fairfax, Virginia, where two horses suffered heatstroke after they were left in stifling boxcars for almost 12 hours in near 100°F heat.
Whistleblowers Threatened While Abusers Go Unpunished
The whistleblowers contend that Ringling falsifies personnel performance reports for employees who quit in disgust or are fired after complaining about the systematic abuse of animals so that the phony records can be used to discredit anyone who goes public with what he or she witnessed.
Employees are warned not to show affection toward animals. And Ringling management tells employees who complain about the beatings, “If you don’t like it, pack your bags,” and even threatens them with legal action if they report abuse to advocacy groups.
Instead of firing employees who mistreat animals, circus management simply cautions handlers not to discipline animals in view of the public.
You Can Help Change This
Find out what to do when the circus comes to town—and how to keep it from coming in the first place.
For more info go to www.circuses.com
Boycott the Bridgeport, Ct circus until they start to treat their animals humanely and supervise their animal trainers better!!
There will be a protest tomorrow evening at 6:00 pm. On Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. they need people to come with cameras to make sure the elephants are treated humanely as they are walked to a local school..........
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| Oct 24, 2007 @ 11:04 PM |
"The saddest show on Earth" ....now in Ct |
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Corigan
Posts: 8
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So we all are going to the circus this weekend?
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| Oct 26, 2007 @ 6:00 PM |
"The saddest show on Earth" ....now in Ct
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sassysass
Posts: 27
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wow, your soooooo darn funny------ 
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| Nov 2, 2007 @ 8:58 PM |
"The saddest show on Earth" ....now in Ct |
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luneib
Posts: 732
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I read about this, it is so sad. Maybe everyone should boycott the circus. How can anyone treat an animal so inhumanly.
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| Nov 3, 2007 @ 12:34 PM |
"The saddest show on Earth" ....now in Ct
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Corigan
Posts: 8
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Jeez...did you hear about this??
LOS ANGELES—Cable network Animal Planet announced its most ambitious foray into reality-TV programming yet Monday with The Zoo, a weekly, hourlong show in which members of a diverse, all-animal cast square off in a single 3,200-square-foot home in the San Fernando Valley.
"Sparks—and fur—are sure to fly when animals from 11 different ecosystems share a single row house in trendy Echo Park," executive producer Stu Wolchek said. "For many of these wild, colorful, and totally unpredictable cast members, it's the first time they've ever seen a bison or sloth."
Wolchek added: "Some of these guys have never even lived under a roof."
According to the show's creator, former zoo director Loren De Jong, over 80 different species were auditioned to find the right mix of personalities. In addition to the red bear, African cheetah, hawk, and antelope, the house is occupied by an American bison, a field mouse, an Egyptian plover, a three-toed sloth, a goose, a crocodile, and a female lowland gorilla who is "very territorial of the bathroom."
De Jong said the show's contestants begin forming alliances on the first day.
"We see an immediate alliance develop between the lowland gorilla and the bison, who work together to smash a hole through a wall," De Jong said.
"While the bear and crocodile are the first to assert themselves in the house, folks at home shouldn't forget the dark horse: the field mouse, who might just fly under the radar all the way to the finals," she added.
TV Guide writer Rebecca Kohler is one of the few to have viewed the pilot.
"It's impossible to pick a winner this early on," Kohler said. "The gorilla is clearly the game's strategist. At the same time, nothing happens in the house that the hawk doesn't see. And I wouldn't put it past the crocodile to eat his own young if it meant getting ahead." Kohler said that the animal most likely to face early eviction is the sloth, who "seems to lack the ambition necessary to go all the way."
The cast will compete in weekly immunity and reward challenges, with prizes comprising such creature comforts as straw, mud puddles, and tree trunks. The latter is much-desired for itch-relieving, horn-sharpening, and territory-marking alike.
Enlarge Image
Two cast members have a heated argument on The Animal Planet's new reality show The Zoo.
Animal Planet sources say the house, which is equipped with the latest in modern convenience, including a hot tub, a flat-screen TV, and a pool table, quickly fills with feces during the premiere episode.
The cast will also take "time outs" in the house's soundproof confessional room, where they can "privately come clean with any thoughts or instincts they may have."
"You'll be shocked at some of the venting you'll hear in the confessional," Wolchek said.
While the cast has reportedly had trouble with such competitions as bridge-building and cooperative puzzle-solving, repulsive-food competitions have proven "very successful," with contestants eagerly devouring worms, beetles, and grubs.
"The hawk beat out his fellow housemates in a stomach-turning roundworm-eating contest," Wolchek said. "He just swallowed those disgusting things whole, one by one. It all seemed worth it to him in the end, though, when he was awarded a sorely needed pile of branches to complete his nest."
Sources close to the show have hinted at the possibility of a 12th, surprise houseguest being thrown into the already cramped living quarters to "shake things up" during February sweeps. Unconfirmed rumors circulating on the Internet identify the mystery cast-member as a 23-year-old Asian-American marketing assistant.
The winner of The Zoo will be awarded a hefty cash prize, a Range Rover, his or her choice of permanent habitat, and, if applicable, assisted migration courtesy of Continental Airlines.
That is, of course, if the show manages to carry on to its conclusion.
Originally set to premiere in September, The Zoo was delayed after the original camera crew was forced to flee. Reports of production problems have continued to surface since, including smashed cameras, urine-soaked sound equipment, and a boom-microphone windscreen that was stolen and raised as young.
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| Dec 11, 2007 @ 3:39 AM |
"The saddest show on Earth" ....now in Ct |
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Meadowlark8
Posts: 686
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Hey Sassy....I am a teacher from CT and I
actually did boycott the Circus when it came here....
It's amazing, disheartening to see such a post as the one
above me. Lack of human empathy for other living things
is not a virtue in my book of ethics.
Truly now I am sure why so many of my students arrive
at my school lacking basic empathy social skills.
And I have to start from square one teaching lessons
on being sensitive to the environment around them.
It's no wonder socio-paths are rapidly on the rise in our
society, void of feelings and their ultimate consequences....
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| Dec 11, 2007 @ 2:21 PM |
"The saddest show on Earth" ....now in Ct
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sassysass
Posts: 27
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I AGREE!! RIGHT ON!!
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| Dec 11, 2007 @ 5:55 PM |
"The saddest show on Earth" ....now in Ct |
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Corigan
Posts: 8
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It seems many of us are looking for something to be offended by. Sorry..didn't mean to offend you good people. If I want to change something for the better I do it. I am sure you do to.
Best wishes
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| Feb 18, 2008 @ 10:32 AM |
"The saddest show on Earth" ....now in Ct
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17Wheels
Posts: 3
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Maybe someone should forward this to Congress. This is something that's worth looking into instead of steroids in baseball or spying in football.
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