Sweet Shirley

No, that's not a close-up of me. My eyelashes aren't that lush.
That is Shirley looking deep into the hearts and souls of anyone who believes that all beings deserve respect and care.

Shirley now lives at The Elephant Sanctuary, after decades of circus work where she was repeatedly injured by other animals or by performing the absurd tricks that entertain people with pea brains.

This is Kenneth Feld, CEO and Chairman of Feld Entertainment.

The wild, cruel animal is not

behind the bars of a cage.

He is in front of it.

~ Axel Munthe

FE is the parent company of Ringling Brothers Circus. Mr. Feld - aka dick, douche, scum, asshole - recently "gladly" paid a $270,000 fine for egregious violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Of course he's "gladly". He wasn't shut down. The animals weren't confiscated and he'll continue on his merry way of making millions in blood money.

The fine was the highest ever levied against one corporation. At least there's that.

In the spirit of the season I wish for Mr. Feld whatever nature thinks suitable. The image I carry is of a tragic elephant dung accident where a certain spec of trash becomes a needle in a dung heap.
 
I won't describe the violations, it's just too much. I can't even type the words. You can Google all the eyewitness accounts and employee statements and federal investigations.

I'm going to go back to Shirley. She's been reunited with an elephant she worked with. Jenny was a baby when they worked together 22 years ago. Shirley recognized Jenny right away and they have been looking out for one another ever since.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant – an elephant’s faithful, one hundred percent

~ Dr. Seuss

my dear friend Jay, at Bailey’s Buddy, also posted about this a few days ago. You can find a link to the live elephant cam at the sanctuary on his sidebar. Thanks Jay for always speaking up for the elephants.

The Elephant in the Room

What is it about people that makes them put their own enjoyment over the needs of other living things? I understand greed. I understand desperation. There are circumstances that can explain people, even decent people, doing terrible things.

But …

In the case of many zoos and most circuses I can only come up with two explanations for those who continue to support them.

Arrogance – the belief that we have the right to determine the fate of creatures we deem less than us for our own amusement.

Ignorance – not being aware of the facts of life for animals being held in zoos or being exploited and abused in circuses.

I can’t do much about the first but I’m going to keep on trying to do something about the latter.

Bob Barker was on Craig Ferguson’s show talking about the successful rescue of Maggie. He paid to have her flown from a zoo in Alaska to the PAWS Sanctuary in Northern California.

He and many others are currently fighting to rescue more suffering elephants. Especially those at the LA Zoo.

Kudos to the Alaskan Zoo for agreeing to release Maggie. Sneers to the LA Zoo for not giving a damn about their animals.

In the interest of fairness you can read the zoo’s side of the argument HERE Sounds like a load of political crap to me.

The Ringling Brothers Circus is still here in NYC and I’ve read a lot of blogs and news reports about how wonderful ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ is. It isn’t. As I posted LAST MONTH, the circus is being actively investigated for horrid elephant abuse.

Places like PAWS and the sanctuary in Tennessee that I posted about HERE are the ones doing the great work. For the animals. Not for the mindless enjoyment of people who either don’t care or don’t know any better.

You might not be able to see the elephants dance and wear silly hats at the sanctuary but you can know that a majestic creature with wants and needs and feelings much like your own is finally living a life of dignity.

the photo is from National Geographic

the LEAST show on earth

Yesterday’s Noon news covered the story of the annual ‘Elephant Walk’. The Ringling Bros. Circus is in town and they parade the elephants from Queens (an outer borough of NYC) through the Midtown Tunnel and into Manhattan. The elephants, along with many other animals, then spend weeks in trailers near Madison Square Garden while the circus does show after show after show.



I got the photo above from the NY Daily News – you can read the story HERE. One parade spectator called the sight “magical”. Really? OK. Let’s put a ridiculous hat on your head, take you thousands of miles away from your natural home and parade you through dark streets and a suffocating tunnel. And if you don’t move fast enough or if you get frightened we’ll smack you with a hook. How’s that for “magical”.

When I was a child one of the few things my father insisted on doing with us was going to the circus. We would arrive early so that we could visit the “Sideshow” better known as the “Freak Show”. Believe it or not this practice of exploiting and degrading people was not stopped until the 1970s. I always begged to wait outside. I hated the place. I felt sorry for the fat lady – sitting on a tiny chair with her rolls and rolls of fat spilling out of a tiny costume. People stared and mocked while she smiled. The tallest man, the tiniest man, the bearded lady – they all made me sad and the people watching made me sick. It doesn’t surprise me that my father enjoyed this. He loved looking down on people and he had a cruel streak a mile long. Luckily I saw this and took the opposite route – so many children follow their parent’s lead.

My son was 7 when he asked to go to the circus. The commercials were on TV and many of his friends were going. I wasn’t especially aware of animal rights at that time and the sideshow was gone so we went. The best part of the show was buying one of those lights on a string. The ones that cost a fortune and die as soon as you get home, the ones the kids all swing around in the air conking themselves on the head. When the elephants came out my son turned to me and said they made him feel “funny and sad” and he didn’t like the circus. Man he was some kind of a wonderful kid!!

Year after year there are investigations. Year after year former Ringling employees speak out and still this miserable show continues.

CIRCUSES.COM has video of how the elephants are “trained”. Warning – it is not easy to watch. There is an entire section devoted to ‘Ringling vs. Reality’ – Reality wins. Shut Ringling down.

The Wildlife Advocacy Project is also working on stopping the mistreatment of the elephants. You can visit them HERE

If you want your children to see animals up close then find an animal sanctuary that allows visitors. In NJ there is a wonderful place called ‘Popcorn Park’ – if you go HERE and then click their link on the left sidebar you can learn all about them. The AMERICAN SANCTUARY ASSOCIATION lists accredited sanctuaries – find one near you and check them out. They also have global partners. There are some (not many) zoos that are accredited. Research the zoo you visit and find out whether your patronage is helping or hurting animals.

There are also lots of other things to do – museums, planetariums, trapeze acts not associated with a circus, or how about just going to the park. In this economy how wonderful to save some money and put Ringling out of business at the same time.

“Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar” ~ Bradley Miller

Let's Hear It For The Girls

Tarra is a chubby girl. Bella is short.

They met at a wonderful resort in Tennessee and the friendship that developed was magic.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Yes - Tarra is an elephant and Bella is a dog but that hardly seems to matter.

You can visit all the elephants and dogs HERE

It's a great site - with videos and a live cam. There's a store to help the efforts - and Tarra and Bella have their own T-Shirts now.

Elephants are wonderful. They are loyal and true and exceptionally smart and soulful.

And of course we all know - dogs are an elephant's best friend.