Sacred Elephants

Video: Do Drunk Elephants See Pink Elephants?

If you're reading via email or news feed, click to watch the video.

This segment from Animals Are Beautiful People (1974) shows bored African elephants raiding a marula tree for it's fermented fruit. A drunken animal party ensues. It's clear that they are eating for entertainment and enjoying getting drunk, even if it means a ferocious hangover the next day.

New Video: What Circus Elephants Can't Tell You (and Circus Promoters Don't Want You to Know)

For a Spanish language version of the video, click here.

One of the things I observed at the protest against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Oakland last week was that most of the ticket holders seemed to be animal lovers. It was a family event. Sometimes it was hard to see how uncomfortable and embarrassed people got when they were weaving their way past our protest signs. They'd look down. Some would cover their children's eyes so they wouldn't see our signs with photos of baby elephants being abused at the Ringling Bros. "training" facility. A few teenage girls looked about to cry when they realized their parents were going inside and they had to follow. For our part, we did our best to offer up friendly smiles while we unwaveringly held our protest signs. It was abundantly clear that the circus ticket holders had no idea about the animal abuse going on inside.

Turning people around after they've paid for tickets and parking was no easy task. No one took me up on my offer to "Trade in your ticket for a protest sign." We tried to console ourselves with hoping that at least we might have changed their minds about coming back next year. 

I think it's far easier to get people's attention about animal abuse at circuses if you can catch them just before they buy tickets. For people in the San Jose and Sacramento areas of California, that time is now. To help get the message out, I created a video and uploaded it on YouTube so that people can easily share it on Facebook or embed the code in their blogs. I hope you like it!

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What Circus Animals Can’t Tell You and circus promoters don’t want you to know. Going to the circus seems like wholesome family fun. Parents want to share an experience with their kids. But behind pretty curtains, there is an ugly reality. Animals are abused to make them learn tricks. Elephants, even babies, are beaten with bull hooks. Powerful wild animals are brutalized into submission. Don’t go to the circus to see the animals you love. Stop going, in order to save them. We’ve seen the truth and are taking a stand. See for yourself at Circuses.com See human entertainers instead of animal performers: clowns, magicians, acrobats and dancers. They’ll dazzle and delight you and your family. Make a new tradition in your family: Pledge to save animals by boycotting animal circuses. Thank you. 

Produced by: Jaya Savannah of Sacred Elephants 

Special thanks to the animal lovers who’ve contributed: 
Photos of Ringling Bros. baby elephant training: Peta. 
Fellow protesters who marched against Ringling Bros. Circus in Oakland 8/11/10 and allowed their photos to be taken, especially elephant-loving friends Bobby Berry, Corinna Kavanagh and John Skinner. Performers who’ve shared their photos: Brooke Z Erdman and Ron Sonoma Magic. Photographer Curtis Finger and his model Lena. Recording artist Julia Marcell for granting a royalty-free license to use her beautiful song "Carousel." Animoto for a Cause for donating use of their video creation software to help me save elephants. Also, a big thank you to everyone who joins us in a pledge to not attend animal circuses! Please share this video with your network, embed it on your website, and tell others the truth about circuses. Thank you on behalf of the elephants. They’d tell you themselves, if they could

Favorite Photos: Rapsu Raises His Trunk for Milk

Photo ©2005 Jaya Savannah.

This photo I took of Rapsu, one of my foster baby elephants at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, always makes me smile. He obediently raises his trunk straight up in the air so he can get better access to the milk bottle. Aren't his baby tusks cute?

Help Stop Elephant Abuse: Boycott Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus

The circus coming to town might conjure up images of old fashioned family fun, but please don't attend circuses with live animals. Behind the bright lights and curtains, something sinister lurks--horrific animal abuse.

When I was in San Francisco's Chinatown last week, I noticed posters up for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Oakland (August 11-15) and San Jose (August 18-22.) Before I could Google the word "protest" my animal-loving friend Corinna Kavanagh emailed to see if I'd like to join her at the PETA-organized protest in Oakland on August 11th.*

*Update: Protest dates for other cities are added below. If you'd like me to add your city's info to this list, please email the details to me.

What are we protesting? Ringling Bros. appalling treatment of circus animals that include Asian elephants. Just as the circus is an old-fashioned entertainment business, so are the "training" methods they utilize to get animals to perform. One nasty tool they use is called a bull hook, which is a heavy cane with a sharp metal hook trainers use to hit, poke, and pierce the flesh of adult and baby elephants in order to control them. While circuses and many zoos still use bull hooks, they are banned from more modern facilities such as the Oakland Zoo in California.

This video interview with Archele Hundley, a former Ringling Bros employee, shows you an actual bull hook and she describes its use.

If you're reading via email or news feed, click to watch the video.

These photos of a baby elephant being poked with bull hooks were given to PETA by another whistle-blowing Ringling Bros. employee, Sam Haddock, shortly before his death. 

Sam felt so bad about the abuse he witnessed at Ringling Bros in Florida, that he called PETA to get it off his conscience. He provided photo evidence and this video interview.

If you're reading via email or news feed, click to watch the video.

In 2009, PETA went undercover at "the saddest show on Earth"—Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus—and captured Ringling workers on video as they beat and whipped elephants dozens of times in venues across the country. The footage in the video below is not from a few isolated incidents. It's business as usual for Ringling Bros. elephant trainers and keepers, who not only abuse the animals during "training," but who also hit, slap, yell, and otherwise spew their overflow of hate onto the animals just because they feel like it. 

If you're reading via email or news feed, click to watch the video.

I know this is difficult video footage to watch, but it's important that people become educated about what their circus ticket purchase is buying. Although the abusive Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey elephant trainers and the company behind them make me shudder, I still believe that most people are inherently good. Circus-goers need to be educated about what really goes on backstage, because if they knew, most would no longer go and animal circuses will become a cruel thing of the past. Enlighten them.

There is a must-read website called Ringling Brothers Beats Animals that has more information on their undercover investigations, updated news about their complaints to the USDA, as well as a take-action letter that you can complete on-line.

If you already have tickets to the circus, please don't go. Instead, rip those tickets up and mail them to Ringling Bros. Customer Service with your letter about why you're not attending the circus.

Ringling Bros. Customer Service
8607 Westwood Center Drive
Vienna, VA 22182
Phone: 1-800-755-1530
Email: customerservice@feldinc.com

Attend the protest against Ringling Bros. animal abuses in Oakland, CA on Wednesday August 11, 2010. Join me and many other elephant lovers in protest of the animal abuse show coming to town. PETA is providing signs and flyers. All you have to do is show up and bring your friends. 

Information about the protest in Oakland today is available on PETA's Facebook page for the event. If you can't make tonight, try to find a night that you can.

UPDATE: Ringling Bros. Circus protest days/times in Oakland August 13-15, 2010.

• Friday August 13th: 6pm
• Saturday August 14th: 12:30pm & 5:30pm
• Sunday August 15th: 2:30pm
• Meet at the Oracle Arena ticket booth area.  

UPDATE: Ringling Bros. Circus protest days/times in San Jose, CA August 18-22, 2010.

• Wednesday August 18th: 6pm [Opening night protest, co-sponsored with Santa Clara County Activists for Animals]
• Thursday August 19th: 6pm
• Friday August 20th: 6pm
• Saturday August 21: 12:30pm & 5:30pm
• Sunday August 22nd: 12:30pm & 5:30pm
• HP Pavilion 525 West Santa Clara St, San Jose CA. 
• Meet at the corner of Autumn & Santa Clara streets.
• There is no reserved parking. Arrive early to find parking in the nearby public lot or on the street.
• Leaflets will be provided by PETA. All you have to do is show up.

UPDATE: Ringling Bros. Circus protest days/times in Kansas City, MO September 8, 2010.

• Wednesday September 8th at 6pm (lasts 1 hour.) Opening night protest.
• Sprint Center, 1407 Grand Blvd, Kansas City MO 64106
• Meet at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and E. 13th Street
• Leaflets will be provided by PETA. All you have to do is show up.
• RSVP online here or here.
• For more info, visit Ann Schleihs' Facebook page: No Animal Circuses in Kansas City - Save the Elephants.

UPDATE: Ringling Bros. Circus protest days/times in Sacramento, CA September 9-12, 2010.

• Thursday September 9th at 5:30pm. Opening night protest. If you can only make one protest, please come to this one. .
• Friday September 10th at 9:30am and 5:30pm.
• Saturday September 11th at 9:30am, 1:30pm, and 5:30pm.
• Sunday September 12th at 9:30am, 1:30pm, and 5:30pm.
• Arco Arena, 1 Sports Parkway, Sacramento CA 95834
• Meet on the steps in front of the box office.
• There is no reserved parking. Please plan accordingly.
• Leaflets will be provided by PETA. All you have to do is show up.
• RSVP for the Sacramento Ringling Bros. protest on Facebook or MeetUp.

If you have additional questions about the 2010 Bay Area protests against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, please contact Eric Deardorff of PETA at EricD@PETA.org

Please help spread the word that circuses with animal acts are not healthy family entertainment by sharing this post with your social network. Thank you!