Need more convincing?
December 18th, 2009 by admin
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus arrives in Florida next week, and again this year ARFF will hold demonstrations on opening night of the circus in West Palm Beach (December 23), Sarasota (Dec. 31), Miami (Jan. 8 ) and in other Florida cities later in January.
Ringling Bros. has a long history of abusive treatment of elephants, tigers and other animals (click here to learn more about the cruelty of the circus). But just in case you need more convincing to join ARFF’s protests, this week never-before-seen photographs from elephant training sessions were released. View the photographs here. The photos were taken by Sam Haddock, an elephant handler who worked at Ringling’s Center for Elephant Conservation, an elephant breeding farm in central Florida.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post wrote about the photographs. “Whatever one’s interpretation of Haddock’s images, they are powerful,” the newspaper wrote. “Baby elephants are 1,500 pounds of pure cuteness. The public is not used to seeing them immobilized with ropes, while sticks with metal hooks are brandished in their vicinity.”
The photos are shocking, but it is important that they are seen. Please, for the poor elephants abused in the photographs, join ARFF at our protests against Ringling Bros. Visit ARFF’s website for dates/times of upcoming demonstrations.