While the article “On the Other Tightrope” framed the debate about circuses’ treatment of animals in general terms and mentioned a pending federal lawsuit, it failed to point out what the evidence against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is. Ringling Bros. employees have repeatedly been documented hitting elephants with bull hooks. Ringling Bros. elephants are kept chained all the time except when performing; in one documented case, elephants were chained for 77 consecutive hours. This is just the tip of the iceberg of information presented in the lawsuit. Abusing elephants with bull hooks and chains, which is standard industry practice, is simply unacceptable.
Elephants and Ethics at the Circus
Letter to the Editor
Nicole G. Paquette, Esq.
Senior Vice President, Born Free USA
The Washington Post