Health & Fitness
L.A. Residents Demand Ban on Ringling Bros. ”The Cruelest Show On Earth."
Los Angeles Residents and Businesses are calling on the local community to stay away from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and avoid supporting an industry that involves cruelty and suffering to animals.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus opened Wednesday night at Staples Center greeted by more than 500 Local Residents, Families, and Animal Protection Organizations that gathered in massive protest against Ringling Bros. Circus presence in the Humane City of Angels.
Distributed to patrons for awareness were leaflets with Ringling photos of torturous treatment and cruel training methods subjected on Ringling Baby Elephants forcing them to perform circus tricks. Dubbed “The Greatest Protest on Earth”, in attendance was local resident Patty Shenker, ( Los Angeles commercial real estate investor and masters in Family & Child therapy) offering,
"As a taxpayer of Los Angeles, I find it outrageous that our City of Angels still allows circuses like Ringling to come to town. Besides the horrific abuse of wild animals, who are beaten severely, chained or caged most of the time & denied any semblance of a natural life, there are human concerns as well. These animals are dangerous & their elephants have tuberculosis, which is transferable to humans! 20 countries have completely banned circuses with wild animals; surely my city can do the same."
In 2011 Ringling Bros. Circus findings by U.S. Government resulted in Ringling receiving a $270,000 record fine for Inhumane Treatment of animals ranking the circus as the nation’s largest Federal Law violators of the “Animal Welfare Act.”
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Community outrage has been further fueled by the uncovering of recent Federal Law violation within the City of Angeles (detailed in 2011 USDA Inspection reports) prompting action from the globes Leading Exotic Animal Protectionists, Animal Defenders International.
An intense campaign by ADI began in 2012 securing a proposal to ban the use of Elephant acts in the city of Los Angeles. The ADI campaign highlighted that it is not just physical abuse that these animals endure. It is often unrecognized that the restriction of movement can cause even greater suffering.
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The ADI team met most Council members, addressed Committee meetings and submitted evidence. Advocates who wrote to Council members include actress Lily Tomlin, Bob Barker, Alexandra Paul and Jorja Fox, all calling for a wild animal ban.
“The treatment of elephants in traveling circuses is one of the crueler practices, and it’s time for us to stand up for them,” said Paul Koretz, the City Council member who sponsored the ban. Once Los Angeles outlaws circus elephants, other communities would follow. “At some point, this will be universally banned throughout the country,” he said.
