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Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus paints a picture of happy animals doing tricks because they like to, but in reality, circus employees whip, shackle, bully, and beat animals with bullhooks to make them perform tricks. Although they take great pains to conceal their abysmal track record of Animal Welfare Act violations from the public and spend millions of dollars on misleading ads that try to convince people that their animals are well taken care of, no amount of PR fluff can erase the fact that the sinister circus is anything but wholesome family entertainment.

Big Trouble Under the Big Top

Recently, the spotlight has been turned on Ringling, exposing shocking instances of death and depravity. First, Thomas Allen Riccio, a clown performing with Ringling Bros. under the name of "Spanky" was arrested on child pornography charges. Then, acrobat Dessi Espana tragically fell to her death while performing in Minnesota because the circus failed to provide a net for her—blatantly ignoring a state statute that requires safety nets for all acrobatic performances. Most recently, two horses traveling with the circus were struck by a freight train as they were being unloaded from the circus train in Dayton, Ohio. One horse died instantly and the other was euthanized at the scene. Last summer, a lion by the name of Clyde apparently died of heatstroke while traveling through the Mojave Desert from Phoenix to Fresno, and a baby elephant named Riccardo was destroyed after he fractured his hind legs when he fell from a pedestal while being taught to perform circus tricks.

USDA Violations

Unfortunately, these aren't the first Ringling Bros. circus performers to suffer premature death. Ringling's animal care record is riddled with tragic animal deaths and USDA investigations, penalties, and warnings. Ringling paid $20,000 to settle USDA charges of failing to provide veterinary care to a dying baby elephant and was warned for shooting a caged tiger to death. Ringling has been cited by the USDA for failure to provide animals with veterinary care, tuberculosis testing, exercise, and sufficient space and failure to keep proper veterinary records. At least 22 of the circus's elephants have died since 1992, including several who suffered from arthritis and foot disorders, a common captivity-induced ailment. Read the entire list of USDA violations.

Ringling Tears Families Apart

In the wild, mother elephants don't wean their babies until they are 4 or 5 years old, females stay together their entire lives, and males remain with their families until they are about 15. Ringling tears babies away from their mothers to enslave them in the circus industry—causing distress and heartache to both mother and baby. Ringling was warned by the USDA for causing "unnecessary trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm, and discomfort" to two baby elephants who incurred 6-inch lesions on their legs when they were dragged, crying and struggling, from their mothers. Two other baby elephants, Kenny and Benjamin, died on the road after they were prematurely taken from their mothers.

According to the Asian Elephant Regional Stud Book, the industry resource for information on elephant births, deaths, and captures, the majority of Ringling's elephants were captured in the wild. And although Ringling has claimed for decades that exhibiting endangered Asian elephants will inspire their protection, the captive display industry is pressuring the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to weaken the Endangered Species Act so that more Asian elephants can be captured in the wild and imported for use in circuses and zoos.

Modern Slavery

In nature, elephants don't stand on their heads, do hind-leg stands, twirl, crawl, or perform other physically difficult tricks. In order to force wild animals to perform confusing and painful acts, trainers use whips, muzzles, electric prods, and bullhooks. In their real homes, these animals would be free to raise their families, forage for food, and play and roam together. Instead, the circus forces them to perform night after night, for 48 to 50 weeks every year. Between acts, elephants are kept chained and punished if they try to socialize with one another.

Bullies With Bullhooks

Ringling employees, including infamous trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams, have been caught on videotape whipping and hooking elephants. Watch undercover video footage that shows standard elephant-training practices.

Elephants perform because they are afraid not to. In the ring, an elephant responds to a trainer carrying a bullhook because the elephant knows that the weapon means pain. Elephants are subjected to regular beatings from sharp, steel-tipped bullhooks to keep them submissive. Trainers swing the handle like a baseball bat and jab it into an elephant's sensitive areas, such as the ears, trunk, mouth, chin, and feet, which causes pain and can result in oozing sores.

All this helps explain why Ringling has opposed proposed laws banning cruel training methods. In comments submitted to the USDA dated April 17, 2000, Ringling opposed language in the agency's "Draft Policy on Training and Handling of Potentially Dangerous Animals" that reads, "Hot shots, shocking collars, or shocking belts should not be used for training or to handle the animals during exhibition, and any such use will be closely scrutinized. An ankus (bullhook) may not be used in an abusive manner that causes wounds or other injuries." Ringling also opposes a proposed elephant protection ordinance in Chicago that would ban chaining and the use of bullhooks.

According to congressional testimony provided by former Ringling Bros. barn man Tom Rider, "[Elephants] live in confinement and they are beaten all the time when they don't perform properly. ... When I became disturbed about the treatment of the elephants, the continual beatings, including the baby Benjamin, I was told, 'That's discipline.'" Read his testimony.

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