The Elephant Sanctuary, Hohenwald, Tennessee

DeLand, Fla. — After being provided with video footage of an elephant being beaten by a Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus employee, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) fined the circus $2,750 for improper handling of an elephant. The beating was caught on tape by a resident of Charleston, S.C., while Beatty-Cole was performing in that city earlier this year. The video shows the employee forcefully striking an elephant on her leg and head with a push broom.

Beatty-Cole is also currently under investigation by the USDA for another elephant beating that reportedly occurred last September in Spartanburg, S.C. According to a Spartanburg County incident report, a circus employee admitted to striking an elephant in the face and trunk with a sharp metal bullhook, simply because the animal was vocalizing. Witnesses described the employee swinging the bullhook with two hands, like a baseball bat, and beating two elephants on the back, side, head, and trunk.Run-ins with the law are nothing new for Beatty-Cole. In 2000, the circus was fined $10,000 by the USDA for using a bullhook to abuse elephants. In 1999, a New Jersey humane society charged the circus with cruelty to animals for overloading and overworking a disabled elephant. Two elephants, who were described as malnourished and neglected, died suddenly within a two-week period in August 1999. And in five separate incidents, Beatty-Cole elephants went on rampages during performances, killing two members of the public, injuring more than a dozen others, and causing tens of thousands of dollars in property damage.

“If dogs and cats were beaten the way elephants in circuses are beaten, the perpetrators would be charged with cruelty to animals,” says PETA’s circus specialist Leslie Armstrong. “This latest incident illustrates once more that beating elephants is standard operating procedure in circuses.”

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Ban on circus animals on ballot
Teen's initiative calls acts 'cruel'
By Mark P. Couch
Denver Post Staff Writer
December 24, 2003

Denver voters will be asked to ban circus animals from the city under a citizen-sponsored initiative scheduled for the August ballot.

Heather Herman, a 15-year- old high school student, said she organized the ballot initiative because she believes the animals are mistreated.

"I do like the circus,' Herman said. "I just like it without the animals. I know there are other points of view. I just don't believe the animals enjoy that kind of habitat.'

Herman's group, Youth Opposed to Animal Acts, gathered 5,969 signatures to require the city to put the measure on the ballot.

The measure states that the city wants to protect "wild and exotic animals from cruel and inhumane treatment.' The ban would apply to circuses, carnivals, parades, trade shows, rides and live performances.

The ban covers not only lions, tigers and bears, but also camels, alligators, armadillos, elephants, dolphins and a host of other nondomestic animals.

On Tuesday, Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell told Mayor John Hickenlooper and the City Council that the election would be in August.

Mark Riddell, spokesman for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, said the circus did not know the details of the initiative and so couldn't comment. But he said such criticism of the circus is unfair.

"The whole premise is based on misinformation and wrongful assumptions about our industry,' Riddell said, noting that the circus has about 60 animals in its care.

Under city rules, citizens can put issues on the ballot by collecting the signatures of 5 percent of the number of voters in the most recent mayoral election. In this case, the group had to collect 5,383 signatures.

Herman, a freshman at Arvada High School, said her mother, Nancy Klix, who is a registered voter in Denver, collected some signatures for her.

Herman is too young to collect signatures herself, but she accompanied her mother to explain her reasons for supporting the ban.

If passed, the measure would exempt the National Western Stock Show, Rodeo & Horse Show, the Denver Zoo and Ocean Journey.

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Refuge's latest elephant given grim prognosis
The Tennessean
By LEON ALLIGOOD
Staff Writer
December 10, 2003

The Elephant Sanctuary's newest resident, a 57-year-old Asian elephant confiscated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last month, suffers from a severe case of ''foot rot,'' according to a report by a University of Tennessee veterinarian.

Ed Ramsay's report on Delhi the elephant was released yesterday by sanctuary founder Carol Buckley during a news conference in Nashville. The sanctuary is near Hohenwald, 60 miles southwest of Nashville. Delhi came to the sanctuary after USDA inspectors seized her from The Haw- thorn Corp., a company that leases elephants to circuses.

''What she's under is hospice care, basically. We'll manage her pain. She's taking 66 pills twice a day,'' Buckley said. The pills are fed to her, inserted in apples and other fruit.

The Elephant Sanctuary was founded in 1995 on 800 acres in Lewis County as a natural-habitat refuge for endangered Asian elephants. Currently, there are nine elephants in residence.

Ramsay's report, which was based on a physical examination and X-rays of Delhi's front feet taken using a portable machine, revealed severe osteomyelitis with infections in both feet.

''Her health evaluation is not very good at all,'' Buckley said.

The USDA has cited The Hawthorn Corp. of Grays Lake, Ill., and a handful of employees, alleging numerous violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

''What happened to Delhi is not natural. Elephants in the wild don't have the foot problems that those in captivity do,'' said Buckley, who noted the sanctuary's elephants have acres to roam.

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Victory for Captive Elephants - United States Department of Agriculture
Makes History by Confiscating Ailing Elephant
December 09, 2003

HOHENWALD, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2003--The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee held a press conference today in Nashville, Tennessee, to discuss the unprecedented action taken earlier this month by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). For the first time in its history, the USDA has confiscated an ailing elephant.

Delhi, a 57-year-old Asian elephant was removed from the Hawthorn Corporation facility, an Illinois-based company that leases elephants to circuses, because her "health (was) at serious risk from a lack of veterinary treatment and adequate veterinary care," USDA spokesman Jim Rogers said.

USDA had been monitoring Delhi's condition since March 4, 2002, when she was found "in a serious health emergency." Both of her front legs were twice their normal size and were swollen up to her chest. She could not bend her front legs at the elbows, was reluctant to bear weight on her front legs, and had difficulty in walking. Delhi sustained severe chemical burns to both front legs when Hawthorn Corporation used undiluted formaldehyde to soak her feet. After 20 months of monitoring Delhi's condition, the USDA determined that Delhi was receiving inadequate veterinary care and that her life was in imminent danger.

Based on Delhi's rapidly deteriorating condition, the USDA arranged for her confiscation and transfer to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. She arrived at the Sanctuary on November 23, 2003.

Dr. Ed Ramsay, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Diplomat of the American College of Zoological Medicine, and Associate Professor of Veterinary Medicine at University of Tennessee Knoxville, performed radiographs on Delhi last Monday. After taking x-rays and studying the film, he stated that "Delhi has severe osteomyelitis in both front feet. There are bony infections present in both fore feet and these infections correspond to the large, eruptive lesions visible on Delhi's feet."

Osteomyelitis is the number one killer of captive elephants. Delhi's condition is so advanced that recovery is unrealistic. Dr. Ramsay recommended foot soaks, daily doses of painkillers, and oral antibiotics. The Sanctuary will provide hospice care for Delhi. Her new keepers will monitor her condition continuously and provide pain management as needed.

According to Carol Buckley, co-founder and co-director of The Elephant Sanctuary, "The news is devastating. But now we will focus on making Delhi comfortable." The goal of Delhi's treatment is to stop the spread of infection. "We want to keep the infection from spreading into the bones of

her fore legs. Delhi will receive antibiotics for the infection and painkillers to manage the pain", Buckley stated. There is no estimate as to how long Delhi might live.

According to Rogers, the USDA has cited John Cuneo of Richmond, Illinois, and his company Hawthorn Corporation, with violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Cuneo and Hawthorn Corporation owned Delhi for 35 years. On April 9, 2003, the USDA filed charges against Hawthorn Corporation, several of its employees, and Walker Brothers Circus, which rented Hawthorn's elephants.

The complaint alleges 47 violations of the minimum standards of care established in the Animal Welfare Act that affected 12 elephants between March 29, 2001 and June 1, 2002.

Delhi has spent her entire life traveling and performing in circuses. She has entertained tens of thousands of people over her 55-year career, including many in middle Tennessee. In 1997, Delhi performed with the Walker Brothers Circus at City Park in downtown Hohenwald, home of The Elephant Sanctuary. Even then, Delhi showed signs of severe foot disease.

The USDA has turned contractual ownership of Delhi over to The Elephant Sanctuary. This ensures that Delhi will never be removed from the Sanctuary or returned to her previous owner. The USDA requires that Delhi remain inquarantine for six months. The Elephant Sanctuary has already made renovations to her quarantine barn, and a new corral is under construction to expand her yard. The Elephant Sanctuary bears the entire financial responsibility for Delhi's care, which could exceed $80,000 over the next six months.

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USDA seizes elephant from Illinois facility
By JACKIE LOOHAUIS
jloohauis@journalsentinel.com
Nov. 25, 2003

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken the unusual step of confiscating an elephant from the same Illinois facility that houses Lota, the Asian elephant taken there from the Milwaukee County Zoo.

The new action - the first time that the USDA has confiscated an elephant as a protective measure - has prompted international animal rights activists to call for Lota's removal from the facility as well.

On Saturday, the department removed Delphi, a 57-year-old Asian elephant, from the Hawthorn Corp. facility because the animal's "health is at serious risk from a lack of veterinary treatment and adequate veterinary care," USDA spokesman Jim Rogers said.

Delphi was taken to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee.

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has asked the department to remove Lota from Hawthorn Corp. The request came in a letter sent Monday to Ann Veneman, U.S. secretary of agriculture, saying that "we remain deeply concerned about the well-being of its 16 remaining elephants, particularly Lota, who suffers from tuberculosis."

Hawthorn Corp. already faces USDA charges over its treatment of Lota. A March 8 court date has been set for the case in Washington, D.C.

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USDA confiscates ill Asian elephant, turns it over to Tennessee sanctuary
November 25, 2003
By LEON ALLIGOOD
Staff Writer

The federal Department of Agriculture has seized a 57-year-old Asian elephant from an Illinois firm and turned the animal over to The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald.

The animal, a circus veteran named Delhi, is suffering from ''foot rot,'' a condition that could lead to her demise.

''She's doing well. She made the trip OK and is adjusting. Her eyes light up when she gets treats,'' said Carol Buckley, the sanctuary's executive director.

Delhi's owner, John Cuneo of Richmond, Ill., has been cited by the USDA for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, according to Jim Rogers, USDA spokesman. Cuneo's business, Hawthorn Corp., leases elephants to circuses.

''I'm not sure how rare it is for an elephant to be confiscated, but it's the first time in my seven years here,'' Rogers said.

According to Buckley, Asian elephants in captivity often develop foot problems because they are confined much of the time.

''If they don't walk enough or if they stand too long on hard surfaces like concrete, then the bottom of their foot bruises and leads to an infection. If it isn't treated, the infection can get into the bone. Foot rot is the No. 1 killer of captive elephants,'' Buckley said.

Tomorrow a veterinarian will use a portable machine to take X-rays of Delhi's feet to determine whether any of the bones are infected. If there is infection in the bone, surgery will be required, she said.

The Elephant Sanctuary, which occupies 2,700 acres in Lewis County, is home to eight elephants.

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U.S. confiscates ailing elephant
By Jeff Long, Tribune staff reporter.
Tribune staff reporter Jon Yates contributed to this report
November 25, 2003

McHenry County owners say it is well cared forSaying an Asian elephant at a Richmond-area circus-training farm was in imminent danger, federal authorities took the rare step of confiscating the animal and shipping it to an out-of-state sanctuary.

Hawthorn Corp. owner John Cuneo said Monday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had no justification for taking Delhi, a 57-year-old elephant he has owned for 35 years. Cuneo and his wife, Herta, said they have spent $50,000 on veterinary care for Delhi during the last 20 months, since the federal agency first raised concerns about the elephant's health.

Delhi arrived at Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn., about 6 a.m. Sunday, with severe infections in her feet, said the sanctuary's founder and executive director, Carol Buckley.

Buckley said she believes it is the first time the USDA has confiscated an elephant under the Animal Welfare Act. A department spokesman could not confirm that but called the action extremely rare.

"Her feet are suffering from long-term, chronic infection," Buckley said.

The USDA has cited Hawthorn several times during the last several years for allegedly inadequate animal care.

Herta Cuneo said Monday that the arrival of USDA officials Saturday morning was unsettling.

"There were six cars, 13 people and a big semitruck," she said. "And police cars with their lights flashing. ... They tried to load [Delhi]. She wouldn't go in. Why would she go into a strange truck with strange people?"

"They cannot say this animal was not well-cared for," John Cuneo said.

In March the USDA is set to argue before an administrative law judge that Hawthorn's license to exhibit animals should be revoked based on 47 alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act. That would effectively shut down the business John Cuneo has operated since 1957.

The alleged violations involve not cutting elephants' toenails properly and infections found on Delhi's feet, which authorities said were exacerbated by a chemical burn from improper treatment. Another elephant on the farm was so thin that its hips and spines were protruding, and one was abused during training, authorities said.

John Cuneo denies the allegations and plans to fight them.

Officials from the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confiscated Delhi after giving the Cuneos 24 hours' notice, said USDA spokesman Jim Rogers.

Rogers said the agency "took this action due to evidence that Delhi's health and well-being were at serious risk from lack of veterinary treatment and inadequate veterinary care."

"For a confiscation, an animal generally has to be in a condition of unrelieved suffering or imminent danger of death," he said.

Rogers would not explain what led agents to confiscate the animal because the department is still considering whether to file more citations against Hawthorn. He said it is not directly related to the charges Hawthorn faces in March.

On Monday the Cuneos released an assessment from San Diego veterinarian Dr. J.E. Oosterhuis, who checked Delhi at the Richmond farm Oct. 31.

Oosterhuis was out of the country this week and unavailable for comment, said a representative of the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, where he is principal veterinarian.

The assessment described abscesses and peeling skin on Delhi's left foot that had not improved and a new problem with her right foot since Oosterhuis' previous visit, among other problems.

Although the assessment said, "The Hawthorn Corp.'s staff should be commended for their care of Delhi," it also said Oosterhuis is "disappointed in the lack of progress" since his last visit. The assessment said the lack of improvement might be because Oosterhuis underestimated the original problem with Delhi's feet. But it also cited her "lack of time spent outside" and her age as contributing factors.

Buckley said her Tennessee sanctuary, which now has eight elephants, has 200 acres of habitat similar to that in Asia. The elephants can roam pastures, hillsides and streams, which assists the healing process, she said. In addition, Delhi will get treatment overseen by a veterinarian from the Knoxville Zoo.

"She's a very good elephant," Buckley said. "She's a sweetheart."

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All for Show
Ringling Brothers' Circus Claims to Promote Conservation
November 3, 2003
By Mia MacDonald, E Magazine

On a cool, rainy afternoon, inside Philadelphia's Wachovia Center, children and parents crowd the cavernous hall trying to get a closer look at Asia, the elephant who paints with her trunk. Asia is a star of the "three-ring adventure" in the 133rd edition of the Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey
circus, the largest and oldest in the U.S. As families mill about they see posters describing Ringling's efforts to protect endangered Asian elephants. The tagline reads: "Endangered species? Not if we can help it."

Elephants are circus crowd-pleasers, but has Ringling Brothers really become conservation minded?

Two hours later, the show wraps up, having featured elephants (including "five parallel pachyderms" that raise their hind legs on stools), tigers, zebras, horses, llamas, dogs and a few goats. The ringmaster thanks people for coming and "helping to support the world's endangered species."

It may sound like an unusual pairing-protecting endangered species by putting them in the circus-but Ringling has become an actor in this new arena. In 1995, Feld Entertainment, Ringling's corporate parent (which also owns the Disney on Ice and Siegfried and Roy shows), established the Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC), a $5 million, 200-acre Asian elephant breeding and research facility in Polk City, Florida. Since 1992, when Ringling began a breeding program, 15 elephants have been born, more than anywhere else in North America, including zoos.

While not all of these elephants will become circus performers, all will remain captive and have their performance potential vetted. Ringling now controls 61 Asian elephants, including the 21 traveling in the circus' two touring units. "We are really leading the world," says Barbara Pflughaupt, Ringling's national press representative, with the "largest gene pool outside of Southeast Asia." Ringling states that a portion-it won't say how much-of all its ticket and concession sales goes to conservation efforts through the CEC.

The CEC is host to elephant trainers, veterinarians and researchers (including one now studying elephants' sense of smell, potentially to reduce elephant/human conflicts in the wild.) Ringling suggests that sperm from its male elephants could be used to regenerate the animals' population in Asia, when technology allows. Conservation biologist Tom Dillon, director of the Species Conservation Program at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), dismisses this. He says the likelihood of needing sperm from CEC elephants is close to zero, given diversity in the wild Asian elephant gene pool and the large number of captive elephants still in Asia.

What Ringling defines as its commitment to conservation isn't confined to the CEC. In 1998, it helped found the International Elephant Foundation (IEF), which works in Asia and Africa to improve management, training and health of captive elephant populations. It also advises captive breeding programs and, in a few cases, supports field-based management or research on
wild elephants.

John Kirtland, Ringling's executive director of animal stewardship and an animal behaviorist by training, says the CEC's and IEF's efforts are still a "work in progress," although the commitment is there. The work includes assistance to a hospital for injured elephants (some the victims of land mines).

Ringling's influence is also felt at global meetings on endangered species and within the U.S. Congress. In 1997, it joined efforts to pass the Asian Elephant Conservation Act, which has over the past few years provided more than $3 million for habitat protection, community-based conservation education, and anti-poaching patrols. WWF's Dillon calls this "essential money." By some accounts, Ringling's participation helped secure support for the Act from Congressional Republicans, many of whom look more favorably on Ringling than on conservation groups.

For years, animal rights and welfare groups have been protesting Ringling's use of animals, particularly endangered species such as elephants and tigers. They complain of cruel training, transport and living conditions, and urge the public to avoid circuses that include animal acts. Last July, the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. handed animal advocates, including the Fund for Animals and the ASPCA, a legal victory in their efforts to hold Ringling accountable. The groups' lawsuit, now moving forward, charges Ringling with violating the Endangered Species Act by abusing elephants through routine circus practices (using bullhooks, chaining them for long periods, and weaning baby elephants too young).

A growing number of cities are banning circuses with animal acts, and activists are not convinced that Ringling has changed. The lives of elephants born at the CEC "will be filled with chains and bullhooks," charges Debbie Leahy, director of captive and exotic animals for People for
the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). "The fact that wild populations are still dwindling is proof enough that what they're doing isn't doing a darn bit of good."

Some animal behaviorists and conservation professionals are also skeptical about Ringling's conservation work. "They're not making a substantial contribution," says Marc Bekoff, a professor of biology at the University of Colorado-Boulder and frequent collaborator with Jane Goodall. "It's a captive breeding program in Florida."

Conservationists and animal welfare groups agree that the greatest threat to Asian elephants is loss of habitat, as burgeoning human populations and extractive industries push into wilderness. Other threats include poaching for ivory (in contravention of a global trade ban imposed in 1989) and capture for domestic uses. Since the 1960s, the elephants' historic range has declined by 70 percent. Only about 35,000 Asian elephants still live in the wild.

According to Ringling, running the CEC costs at minimum $1 million a year. Asked why Ringling doesn't redirect its efforts from breeding elephants to habitat conservation, Pflughaupt replies: "Habitat is another thing. We're not a conservation organization. We're a circus responsible for the care of our animals."

Pflughaupt contends that the elephants are better off with Ringling. "They're safer with us," she says. "'Better off in the wild' is an ivory tower position." But is Ringling practicing "conservation" as it is commonly understood, or seeking to ensure an available captive elephant population
along with a public that continues to approve of and demand animal acts in circuses?

On another cold and dreary spring day, about 25 animal activists gather in front of New York's Madison Square Garden, where the Ringling Bros. Circus is performing. A poster with a photo of a chained elephant's leg reads: "The slave trade is alive and kicking-elephants in circuses-you choose, they can't."

Activists charge that Ringling has supported a loosening of the ban on elephant ivory sales at meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Pflughaupt denies that the company takes a position on the ivory issue. But in 2002, CITES delegates (with Bush administration support) voted to allow some trade in African ivory, a move opposed by most conservation and animal welfare and rights groups. "This is ivory from animals that have already died," says Pflughaupt, "and my understanding is that the money would go to conservation."

Even a partial reopening of the ivory trade will have a devastating effect on wild elephants, argues PETA's Leahy. Another action that raises activists' ire is Feld's recent $7,000 campaign contribution to U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), chair of the House Resources Committee, who supports trophy hunting and "sustainable use" (selective culling, including for trophies) of wild populations, including elephants.

Meanwhile, habitat protection efforts are woefully underfunded. "They're exploiting the Asian elephant for profit and you'd think they could support its continued existence in the wild," Dillon says of Ringling. "It's nice they've put money into Thailand's captive elephant program, but putting the money into conservation of wild elephants would be a better use of the funds."

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'SIEGFRIED & ROY AT THE MIRAGE': Show officially ends
Saturday, October 11, 2003
Las Vegas Review-Journal

One week after tiger attack, MGM Mirage dismisses last 202 employees
By ROD SMITH
GAMING WIRE

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman explains what will happen to the cast and crew of the Siegfried & Roy show at a news conference Friday at The Mirage. MGM Mirage officials dropped the final curtain on "Siegfried & Roy at The Mirage" Friday when they told the last 202 employees the show would not go on.

The dismissals came one week after illusionist Roy Horn was critically injured on stage by Montecore, his 600-pound white tiger. One veteran employee of the popular Strip show who asked not to be named said he felt angry and hurt. "It's not us they were concerned about," he said after being told of the terminations at one of two meetings MGM Mirage executives held with the show's workers on Friday. The 13 1/2-year-old show was managed under a complicated agreement with Feld Entertainment, which produced the show and paid the performers.

Horn, who remained in critical condition Friday, and his stage partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, were business partners analogous to A-list movie stars who form their own production companies and retain executive producer credit for their films. MGM Mirage paid the stagehands and staff members, such as ushers and cocktail servers. Altogether, 267 employees who worked with their show have been terminated since last week's incident. Sixty-five employees worked for Feld Entertainment and were let go last week.

The remaining 202 employees worked for MGM Mirage, 68 of them covered by the Culinary union contract and 134 non-union, MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said at a Friday news conference that followed meetings with the affected workers.

The union contract covers workers at the Siegfried & Roy show and the Danny Gans show, and they will be retained in order of seniority. Thus, some Danny Gans workers are being laid off while some Siegfried & Roy employees are being transferred to Gans' show at The Mirage. Feldman did not know how many will be affected. Feldman said no further staff reductions are expected because of the show's closure.

Feldman said union workers will be called back if another show starts up within six months, but he was not optimistic that would happen. Feldman said the company has yet to consider how to replace the Siegfried & Roy show, and he said the company's future relationship with the duo has yet to be considered. "The focus is still on Roy, our employees, and on being there to support Siegfried," Feldman said.

Terminated employees will be paid severance on a sliding scale. Workers with 10 years experience or more -- the bulk of the affected workers, according to Feldman -- will get six months salary and 60 days worth of benefits. Employees leaving Friday's meetings with MGM Mirage executives, some tearful, declined to be quoted. But Tiffany Bailey, a dancer with the show who was reached by telephone, was incredulous. "I can't believe a billion-dollar company like this didn't have a plan. If I ran a multimillion-dollar business that depended on two leaders, I would (have a plan)," Bailey said. "That's a lot of people. I think it's sick. It's horrible. It's crazy to me."

Feldman said MGM Mirage had never made contingency plans for workers in case the Siegfried & Roy show ever closed. He did say, however, all of the show's laid off employees will be offered placement assistance, including an exclusive job fair next week. The dismissals came just one week after Horn, who turned 59 last Friday, was mauled by a white tiger about 45 minutes into the duo's early evening show.

There were no major developments in his condition, but well wishers and fans continued to show their support, sending armloads of letters and cards to the hospital. Hundreds of people also continued to stop at the makeshift tribute to the magician at The Mirage, the bronze statue of Horn and Fischbacher. They brought flowers and balloons and signed giant books to wish Horn a speedy recovery. "We came here to bless Roy, so he can get well soon," said Melinda Chinen, a 9-year-old fan who was visiting Las Vegas from Hawaii with her family. Melinda's mother, Susan, 43, said she and her husband were dazzled when they saw the duo perform 10 years ago. "We just hope that one day our children can see it, too," she said. Printed e-mail messages sent to Horn from around the world were strung across the railing by the statue. "All of Mexico is praying for you," one read. "You and Siegfried are my inspiration," read another, signed by "Germar the Magician," of Walnut Creek, Calif.

While media attention focused on the injured Horn, Wall Street analysts are expressing concern about the loss of the show on The Mirage and its holding company, MGM Mirage. Deutsche Bank analyst Marc Falcone said the Siegfried & Roy show remained tremendously popular, playing to sold out audiences. "We expect its loss will have an impact on that property's results. Since MGM Mirage's other shows are also typically sold out, it will be hard to make up the lost business at other properties, in our view," he said.

Feldman conceded Friday that the show's closure will adversely affect the financial performance of MGM Mirage. "Obviously, this is going to have an impact, but we think we're going to be able to manage it," Feldman said. The Mirage show opened Feb. 1, 1990, and ran for 5,750 performances for an estimated 10.5 million patrons. The pair performed six shows weekly before capacity crowds of 1,504 paying an average of $110 each, including tax. They performed about 45 weeks per year, meaning Siegfried & Roy generated about $44.6 million in annual pretax ticket revenue. Lehman Brothers casino analyst Joyce Minor estimated that MGM Mirage gets less than half the revenue from Siegfried & Roy ticket sales.

Still, Deutsche Bank estimated the impact on MGM Mirage earnings per share could be between 5 cents and 10 cents. Business interruption insurance could mitigate some of that impact, although UBS Warburg analyst Robin Farley said that was unlikely to cover any loss in incremental gaming revenues. The show was scheduled to be dark from Nov. 26 to Dec. 25, so the impact will be felt less in the fourth quarter, Falcone said. Feldman said the Secret Garden poolside animal attraction, the white tiger exhibit, the gift shops and the Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand will remain open, preserving some Siegfried & Roy-related revenue for the company.

Review-Journal writer Juliet V. Casey and Gaming Wire writer Jeff Simpson contributed to this report.

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Big cats, calculated risk
Even trained tigers can turn with little warning
By DAN VERGANO
USA TODAY
October 8, 2003

In temperament and behavior, captive tigers resemble house cats, something to ponder amid the debate on the safety of big-cat circus acts ignited by the mauling of showman Roy Horn.
Horn was critically injured in Friday's attack when a 550-pound white Bengal tiger, a veteran performer named Montecore, attacked the trainer before an audience of 1,500 at the Siegfried & Roy show at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

An entertainment staple from the time of the Roman Coliseum, shows involving big cats have become a battleground between animal-rights activists and entertainers. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals decries the training and living conditions of circus animals, but performers such as Horn, 59, describe their work as part of conservation efforts to save tigers from extinction. "I have to believe the attack was a freak accident," says veteran trainer John Kirtland, executive director of animal stewardship for Feld Entertainment, which produces the Siegfried & Roy show and also owns Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus.
"Any time you work with animals, particularly an animal like a tiger, there is inherent risk," he says. "But Roy has done that show 5,000 times without incident, and I have never seen a better trainer. I don't think this was inevitable; I think it was an unfortunate tragedy."

Zoo officials and veterinarians disagree, saying accidents are inevitable given the predatory nature of tigers. "I love tigers, but a tiger act is the last thing I would ever do," says John Seidensticker of the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Trainers begin grooming cubs for performing as soon as they are weaned. They are fed from a bottle and taught appropriate behavior using food treats as rewards. Performance routines are taught through repetition, and rewards are given at every step. "The cat has to look at you as a partner," Kirtland says.
But "tigers are highly evolved specialists at killing large mammals. That's what all those teeth and claws are for," Seidensticker says. Horn and his partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, are known for "providing the best of everything for their animals and also as consummate professional trainers," he says. "In spite of that, this happened. That tells you something. It was inevitable."
The truly scary thing about the attack, Seidensticker says, is that perhaps 10,000 tigers nationwide are kept by private owners with little training and in conditions far less opulent than the pampered tigers of the Las Vegas act. "I look at each of those cats as another accident waiting to happen."

Just last week, a tiger was removed from a New York City apartment after biting its owner's leg.
Among the great cats, tigers are regarded as a special training challenge. Lions are much more social, and cheetahs are more trainable. Like a house cat, "a tiger is not just a tiger. They all behave differently and unpredictably, individual by individual," says Nicholas Dodman of the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, Mass.
Solitary hunters by nature, tigers can become aggressive with little warning because of any number of factors, including genetics, upbringing, aging and feeding, Dodman says. Subtle changes in the thyroid or brain caused by aging, for example, have been known to trigger aggression in cats.

News accounts have depicted a reluctant tiger being rebuked by Horn during Friday's act. The tiger grabbed Horn's arm and bit his neck. One of two types of feline responses could have triggered the attack, Dodman says:
- Predatory response. A misstep onstage by the trainer could trigger the natural instinct of a tiger to bite prey. Tigers are businesslike, not angry, when they hunt; they betray no signs of irritation before an attack.
- Defensive response. If the tiger felt irritated, even by some subtle change in diet, a rebuke during an act could trigger a defensive attack, usually marked by enlarged pupils, raised hackles and a switching tail.

"Tigers are unbelievably powerful animals; they can do incredible damage, even in play," says Bronx Zoo general curator James Doherty. About 5,000 tigers are thought to remain in the wild in Asia, mostly Bengal tigers living in reserves in India. Inbreeding in North America among the white tigers such as Montecore is much higher than among captive populations of Sumatran and Siberian tigers, the less common breeds. "These animals have been deprived of everything natural," says Lisa Wathne of PETA, an expert on captive exotic animals. "The fact this hasn't happened before is sheer luck."

Kirtland says audience members were in no danger from Montecore during the act, but others are not so sure. "Nothing could have grabbed him if he ran down into the audience and set off a real panic," Doherty says.

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Magician Roy Horn Critically Injured by Tiger
By ADAM GOLDMAN, AP
October 4, 2003

A tiger attacked magician Roy Horn of duo ''Siegfried & Roy'' during a Friday night performance, leaving the superstar illusionist in critical condition, authorities said.An audience member at The Mirage hotel-casino said the white tiger lunged at Horn, who tried to beat the animal off with a microphone.''The tiger went for his neck, then drug him offstage,'' said Andy Cushman, a 23-year-old reporter from New Jersey. ''He looked like a rag doll.''

Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said Horn had a serious injury to the left side of his neck. Feldman said Horn, who turned 59 on Friday, was taken into surgery.Horn was in critical condition at University Medical Center, said hospital spokeswoman Cheryl Persinger. Clark County Fire spokesman Bob Leinbach said that on the way to the hospital Horn was able to talk with the ambulance staff.

Cushman said Horn, the dark-haired member of the duo, appeared alone on stage with the tiger about 45 minutes into the show, and told the audience the animal was making his debut.After the attack, Siegfried Fischbacher appeared on stage and said the performance was anceled, Cushman said.''Roy is a very, very strong-willed person as well as having physical strength,'' said Bernie Yuman, the duo's longtime manager. ''I'm cautiously optimistic.'' Yuman thanked friends and fans who have sent their support.''It's touching to hear from so many people all at a short time,'' Yuman said.

Hotel officials said the show has been canceled indefinitely. The tiger involved in the attack, a 7-year-old male named Montecore, was quarantined at the hotel, officials said.The German-born pair perform six shows a week, 44 weeks per year and have been performing in Las Vegas for more than 30 years. The illusionists, who put on one of the most well-known and expensive Las Vegas shows with their signature white tigers and lions, signed a lifetime contract with the Mirage in 2001.

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Animal trainer cited in TB case
Employees may have contracted it from elephants
By Jon Yates
Tribune staff reporter
September 26, 2003

Federal officials have cited a McHenry County animal trainer for failing to protect his employees amid fears that some may have contracted tuberculosis from infected elephants.

In citations issued last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration charged John Cuneo's business, Hawthorn Corp., with failing to provide workers with protective clothing, failing to label a barn in which an infected elephant is housed, and failing to provide a sufficient medical monitoring program.

Charles Shields, area director for the OSHA office in North Aurora, said the citations were issued after some Hawthorn employees tested positive for TB.

Shields said the tests do not necessarily mean the employees contracted tuberculosis from the elephants, but rather that they were exposed to the disease at some point in their lives.

None of the employees is considered contagious, Shields said, but officials are worried that other employees could be at risk.

"What we're concerned about is tuberculosis transmission, in this case from elephants to humans," Shields said.

Federal officials have been watching Hawthorn since 1996, when two of its elephants died of tuberculosis. Cuneo agreed to a $60,000 fine and a 45-day license suspension after the U.S. Department of Agriculture investigated animal cruelty charges in that case.

In the most recent case, OSHA wants Cuneo to correct the problems and pay a fine of $37,100.

Cuneo says the citations are the result of an ongoing campaign of misinformation by animal rights groups.

"We're getting sick of it. It's a witch hunt," Cuneo said. "It gets very tiresome. We have very good people."

Earlier this year, the USDA cited Hawthorn with 47 violations of the Animal Welfare Act, for everything from failing to cut elephants' toenails to improperly treating an elephant who was suffering from severe chemical burns. In that case, USDA officials are seeking to revoke Cuneo's license. No court date has been set.

Cuneo, who has run his business out of Richmond, Ill., for more than 45 years, said he will meet with OHSA officials Oct. 1 to discuss the most recent citations.

He believes some of his employees have tested positive for TB because they received tuberculosis vaccinations when they were younger. He also said there is no history of tuberculosis being transmitted from elephants to humans."We're talking manufactured trouble," Cuneo said. "It's a political thing."

Craig Conover, medical director of the Division of Infectious Disease for the Illinois Department of Public Health, said it is often difficult to determine when or where a person contracted TB. While people can test positive for tuberculosis after simply receiving a vaccination, Conover said it is uncommon.

Conover said there is some evidence tuberculosis can spread from elephants to humans, most likely the same way it spreads among humans--through close physical contact. Generally, he said, the disease is spread through the air, such as in a cough.

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Report Reveals Government Routinely Ignores Violations of Animal Welfare
Act by Ringling Bros.
Circus Beats and Mistreats Elephants; Feds Turn Blind Eye
September 24, 2003

Three of the nations largest and oldest animal protection organizations have released an in-depth report revealing that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)charged with enforcing the federal Animal Welfare Actroutinely looks the other way when Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey beats and otherwise mistreats the elephants in its circus. The report also demonstrates that many Ringling Bros. elephants have tested positive for Tuberculosisa disease that is highly communicable to humansand that the USDA has failed to disclose this information to the public.
The report was released by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Fund for Animals, and the Animal Welfare Institute, and was based on hundreds of records obtained through litigation under the Freedom of Information Act. The records show that
in case after case brought to the USDA in the last five years by animal welfare organizations, state humane agencies, former Ringling Bros. employees, and even USDAs own inspectors, the USDA purposely ignored crucial evidence, closed investigations prematurely, and overrode its
own inspectors and investigators determinationsallowing Ringling to insist to the public that there is no truth to any allegations that it abuses its elephants. Tracing nine different investigations over five years, the report reveals such incidents as:

--The USDA has been extremely cooperative in helping Ringling keep the public from knowing that as many as eight elephants have tested positive for Tuberculosis and many more have been exposed to the disease. In one instance, although a USDA investigator originally cited Ringling for
failing to provide any medical treatment for an elephant who had tested positive, a high level USDA official later overrode that citation when Ringlings attorneys complained.

--Internal documents show that USDA investigators found that a trainers use of a bullhook on a baby elephant named Benjamin created behavioral stress and trauma which precipitated in the physical harm and ultimate death of the animal, yet the USDA memorandum closing the case omitted all references to this finding and instead stated that suddenly, and without any signs of distress or struggle, Benjamin became unconscious and drowned. No enforcement action was taken by the USDA.

--USDA determined that Ringlings use of chains and ropes to forcibly remove nursing elephants from their mothers at Ringlings Center for Elephant Conservation caused the animals unnecessary trauma, behavioral stress, [and] physical harm, and was not in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, yet the agency quietly closed the investigation without taking any enforcement action.

The USDA is charged by law to protect performing animalsnot to help Ringling with its public relations, said Lisa Weisberg, ASPCAs Senior Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Policy. This report raises serious questions about the relationship between the circus and
USDA officials. Were appalled that USDA not only turned a blind eye to Ringling Bros. repeated abuse of animals, but apparently, the department actually assisted Ringling Bros. by covering up violations of the Animal Welfare Act, said Cathy Liss, President of the Animal Welfare Institute.
Ringling Bros. political machine has kept USDA and politicians from touching this issue, and the circus public relations machine has kept the public in the dark about the animal abuse. This report confirms what we have long knownthat there is an extraordinarily cozy relationship between Ringling Bros. and the USDA, said Michael Markarian, President of The Fund for Animals. Only the USDA can enforce the Animal Welfare Act, and when it fails to do so, it makes a mockery of the statutes intent to protect animals from inhumane treatment. The American public, and the abused elephants, deserve much better from our federal government.

Along with a former Ringling employee, the three groups have brought a lawsuit against Ringling under the Endangered Species Act for its mistreatment of Asian elephants. Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejected Ringlings arguments that the case
should be dismissed, and the case is now going forward in the federal district court in Washington. The plaintiffs are being represented by the public interest law firm, Meyer & Glitzenstein.

The full report is available online (9.4 MB) at:
www.fund.org/uploads/GovernmentSanctionedAbuse.pdf

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Pumpkin farm elephants spur complaints
By Marilee Enge
Mercury News
September 18, 2003

Endangered Asian elephants just don't belong in a pumpkin patch, at least
according to the Committee for Green Foothills, which normally works to
limit out-of-scale development in rural San Mateo County.

The group is urging officials to ban a pair of elephants from a Half Moon
Bay roadside farm when the busy Halloween pumpkin season opens next month.

Last fall, a pair of pachyderms named Rosie and Dixie were brought in to
promote the Cozzolino family's 4C's Farm on the busy Highway 92 pumpkin
route. Families lined up for $4 elephant rides and $5 photos, and the
attraction was wildly popular.

But the elephants also drew animal rights protesters, who objected to the
use of an endangered species for carnival-style entertainment.

This year, officials told the Cozzolinos they must have a coastal
development permit for the animals. The issue goes before the planning
commission Wednesday. A rancorous and emotional debate is expected.

Environmentalists argue that the use of exotic animals is not allowed under
county ordinances designed to protect the rural agricultural economy.
Moreover, said Lennie Roberts of the Committee for Green Foothills, the
elephants created a menace on Highway 92, which was already jammed during
the pumpkin season.

``That road has a lot of safety problems to start with,'' she said. ``You
don't want to be rubbernecking at elephants.''

But county planners said regulations seem to allow elephant rides and are
recommending the commission approve the Cozzolinos' permit. The farm also
features a petting zoo, inflatable jumper and barbecued sausages, the kind
of entertainment offered at neighboring pumpkin patches each October.

``When we looked at the rules, we couldn't find anything that would prohibit
elephants,'' said Terry Burnes, county planning administrator. ``They're in
the same category as pony rides.''

The Southern California owners of Dixie and Rosie say their elephants are
well cared for and that they help educate the public about a rare and
beautiful creature.

``Animals like our elephants are ambassadors for the species,'' said Kari
Johnson, of Have Trunk Will Travel. ``If you'd never met an elephant in
person, you wouldn't care about them as much in the wild.''

Roberts said her group doesn't oppose other forms of family entertainment
with some connection to the coast's agricultural heritage.

``We're not objecting to inflatable jumpers,'' she said. ``Elephants are
over the top.''

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Press Release Source: The Fund for Animals
Endangered Elephants One Step Closer to Victory Over Ringling Bros. Circus
Thursday July 31
U.S. District Court Denies Circus' Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit

WASHINGTON, July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, allowing a case to go forward charging the circus with violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for its routine abuse of endangered Asian elephants. The case has been brought against the circus by a former Ringling Bros. elephant worker, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), and The Fund for Animals, who will present eyewitness testimony and videotaped evidence that Ringling Bros. beats its elephants with bull hooks.

Today's ruling stated that "in the present case, the Court must accept as true plaintiff's assertions concerning defendants' treatment of Asian elephants, a species considered 'endangered' under the ESA."

"The ASPCA is very pleased with the court's decision," said Lisa Weisburg, senior vice president of Government Affairs and Public Policy at the ASPCA. "We believe we will successfully prove that Ringling Bros. engages in ongoing abuse of the elephants during the separation process of babies from their mothers and in the training of elephants to perform." Michael Markarian, President of The Fund for Animals, added, "The public deserves to know the truth about the routine animal cruelty that goes on under the 'Big Top.'"

"Elephants, including babies, have suffered greatly at the hands of Ringling Bros.," said Cathy Liss, President for the Animal Welfare Institute. "Our lawsuit simply seeks to stop the torture." Former Ringling Bros. elephant trainer and co-plaintiff in the case, Tom Rider, witnessed routine beatings of the circus elephants with bull hooks and his testimony is also a part of the animal groups' case.

The groups are represented by the public interest law firm of Meyer & Glitzenstein. A copy of the court's four-page order is available online at www.fund.org/uploads/RinglingOrder.pdf.

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New York honors electrocuted elephant

A New York museum has unveiled a memorial to an elephant - which after killing three trainers - was electrocuted in public by the Edison company.
July 21, 2003

The exhibit is displayed on Coney Island - the faded holiday resort famous for its freak shows, fair rides and Russian mafiosi.

Topsy was part of a private collection of elephants - one of the tourist attractions on the island at the turn of the century.

But after she killed three men in three years - the last a drunk trainer who had fed her a lit cigarette - her owners decided she had to go.

They fed her carrots laced with cyanide which she wolfed down without effect. A plan to publicly hang the elephant was opposed by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Copper sandals

Eventually, the inventor Thomas A Edison came to the rescue.

Locked in a battle with George Westinghouse over what he deemed the supremacy and safety of his direct current electrical system, he agreed to electrocute the six-ton Indian elephant.

In January 1903, a crowd estimated at some 1,500 gathered at Coney Island, to witness what The New York Times termed "a rather inglorious affair".

Clad in copper-lined sandals and covered in electrodes, Topsy was given a huge electric shock. "There had been no sound and hardly a conscious movement of the body," reported the paper.

The event would probably have been forgotten if it had not been for two artists - Gavin Heck and Lee Deigaard - who decided to honour Topsy.

They have a designed a coin-operated mutoscope (a turn-of-the-century viewing medium) through which images of the execution can be viewed.

"She was considered a bad elephant because she killed an abusive handler. But she wasn't a bad girl - she was an elephant confined and one of the builders of Coney Island," said Lee Deigaard.

Mr Heck has devoted five years of his life to creating Topsy art - including a huge sculpture of the elephant - which is exhibited at a gallery in Brooklyn.

"I was struck by how a story so old could bring up many issues and feelings for people," Mr Heck told the BBC.

"I don't think we are quite there yet with a holistic way of dealing with our own deaths and the way we are voyeuristic about it when it comes to those of animals."

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Handful of Shriners and Animal-Rights Activists Tangle in Minneapolis
A handful of Shriners tangled with fright wig-wearing animal rights activists as the national Shriner convention opened in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis, St. Paul
July 7, 2003

Yesterday's altercation was between at least two Shriners and three animal-rights activists. Fifteen or more protesters, many dressed as clowns in face paint and fright wigs, carried signs alleging cruel treatment of animals in the Shrine circus.

The first fight was between Shriner Rob Bernhardt of Denver and Lori Peterson, a Minneapolis attorney and activist. Bernhardt says he told Peterson to get out of his way when they met on the sidewalk outside the Minneapolis Convention Center. He says Peterson told her to "make him." They ended up in the bushes.

Peterson says she kicked Bernhardt between the legs.

Another protester suffered a bloody cheek as he tried to break up the fight. But there appeared to be no serious injuries.

The scuffle must have been quite a sight, but police decided it wasn't quite a crime. No one was charged.

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http://www.minotdailynews.com/daily/FMPro?-DB=page.one.a.fp5&-lay=main&-Format=detail2.html&story_two.fix=6/28/2003-2&week=26&-Max=1&-Find

Tons of trouble, Vehicle transporting elephants tips over in ditch

By: Ken Crites
Editorial Staff Writer
June 28, 2003

MAX - A pair of circus elephants received minor injuries in the overturning of the semi van in which they were riding near here early Friday morning.

The vehicle carrying the animals was southbound from Minot en route to Beulah when the truck left the roadway, going off into the west ditch and overturning.

The driver of the truck was identified by the N.D. Highway Patrol as Darren Carey, 34. He was injured as was a passenger, Juan Olmos-Parra, 31, both of Hugo, Okla.

Both men were taken to a Garrison hospital, with Olmos-Parra later transferred to St. Alexius Hospital in Bismarck.

No condition report was available.

The accident blocked the southbound lane of U.S. 83 for a time.

The two Asian elephants, which had performed Thursday night as part of the Carson & Barnes 5-ring circus at the State Fairgrounds in Minot, were extricated from the trailer by the Max Fire Department.

The truck was called a total loss by a patrol investigator.

Carey was cited by the patrol for care required.

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Time to let this elephant forget her grim past
June 7, 2003

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

When Lota the elephant looks back on her life and ponders her biggest regret, I'm guessing it would be that she didn't run faster the first time she encountered human beings in the wilds of India.

If you're an elephant, spending your life in captivity would be like a New York socialite being forcibly moved to the middle of the jungle where they don't even take credit cards.

I'd be more likely to eat a meaty gyro on a pita than side with PETA on most of its causes, but the story of Lota puts me in touch with my inner animal rights activist.

Milwaukee County Zoo

Now in her golden years, Lota is still being abused at the Illinois circus training farm where she was sent by the Milwaukee County Zoo in 1990, according to a federal complaint recently filed against the facility.

The saga dates all the way back to 1954 when Lota and another elephant were delivered to our zoo, then at Washington Park. The animals were 4 years old, still considered babies in pachyderm circles.

A heartwarming story in the newspaper from that time tells how hunters in India hid near a salt lick that attracted a herd of elephants. "With torches and shouts" they drove the herd into a stockade they had built nearby, and 18 elephants were captured.

Pennies and nickels tossed in a jar by Milwaukee children helped pay for the elephants. The two elephants led a parade up Vliet St. to their new home and 0.0000002% of the square feet they were used to back home in India. A girl from West Allis won a contest by suggesting the name Lota, the word for a vessel used in India to hold water. Moat was the word Lota became more familiar with.

Young Lota was described by zookeepers as "full of tricks, always looking for trouble." Well, she found trouble, and it led to a career change of performing circus tricks.

That part of the story is well known. In 1990, the zoo decided that Lota was becoming too aggressive, probably from 36 years of dodging coins and looking out at people swinging one arm in front of their faces and doing their best elephant call impression. With great strife, she was loaded on a truck and for $1 handed over to Hawthorn Corp. of Richmond, Ill., with the understanding that she would be well treated.

But Lota learned that humans don't always tell the truth. She has spent the last 13 years traveling around the country as a circus performer. Let's just say the job doesn't come with much of a health plan. The Department of Agriculture found evidence that Lota has been plagued by tuberculosis and weight loss so severe that her spine and hip bones are protruding.

John Cuneo, who runs Hawthorn, has denied the charges and says his elephants are fat and happy. But animal lovers persist in their efforts to get Lota out of his clutches and into an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee.

Carol Buckley, director of that sanctuary, thinks Milwaukee County ought to get busy rescuing Lota. Even on a good day, the circus life is cruel for elephants, she said.

"If they wanted to do the right thing for this elephant, they would do it," she said.

The zoo got rid of all of its Asian elephants and has given the space to the black rhinos, so they don't want Lota back. County Executive Scott Walker said there's nothing the county can do for Lota.

Not a whole Lota love there.

Lota has kept her side of the bargain, even though she never agreed to the deal. She has educated and entertained three generations of children and adults alike.

She's old. She's tired. Give this poor animal a rest.

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Circus shrugs off criticism; show goes on
Elizabeth A. Lehnerer
The Telegrapher
June 5, 2003

ALTON -- The circus came to town. The controversy did not.

Criticism by animal rights groups of the Sterling and Reid Bros. Circus failed to keep the show from going on Wednesday at Alton Square.

Earlier this week, in advance of the circus’ arrival, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent out statements asserting that Sterling and Reid has been cited for violations of the Animal Welfare Act more than 70 times.

Philip M. Dolci, Sterling and Reid Bros. performer’s director, said the accusations are part of the business.

"PETA is a bunch of fund-raising lobbyists who don’t care about animals," he said. "All they are out to do is make laws."

Dolci, in his sixth season with the circus, acknowledged that groups like PETA used to upset him. Now, they are just part of the business.

"I believe in the First Amendment, so they have a right to freedom of speech. This is a tough business, and you learn to deal with it."

The group has charged that trainer Tim Frisco has beaten elephants with a steel-tipped bullhook and instructed other trainers to "rip the hook through the elephants’ flesh until they scream out in pain -- and to conceal the beatings from the public."

Elephants were not a part of the show Wednesday. The circus will run again at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. today.

No protesters were spotted Wednesday. Dolci said some groups have shown up to protest in the past, but this year all they have done is sent letters to media.

"The fact that the vocal minority could prohibit children from seeing animals that they wouldn’t have a chance to see otherwise just turns my stomach," Dolci said.

The big top rolled into the Alton Square parking lot at 2 a.m. The circus includes clowns, tigers, dogs, horses, ponies, trapeze artists and even a human cannon ball.

Work in the self-contained city began around 5 a.m., when 35 men began to erect the large pink tent that would showcase the performers and animals in their three-ring circus. The 175 person-show, originally from Sarasota Fla., includes performers from 19 countries who caravan from coast to coast.

Dolci said he has one of the best jobs out there.

"I get to go to the circus every day, and every day I am amazed," he said.

As a former lawyer in Dupage County, the only chances Dolci got to work with children were in bad situations. "Now I get to see children laugh and smile every day."Although happy children warm Dolci’s heart, it’s the adult reaction he enjoys the most.

"The circus is a family tradition. Circus families have passed their craft on to their children, and the audience members get a chance to pass on their memories of going to the circus as a child to their kids."

This is the circus’ first time in Alton.

"We have performed in St. Louis at Forest Park before, but this time the demographics were right for us to come to Alton," Dolci said.The mall offered to hold the circus, which Dolci said is a "win- win situation."The mall gets publicity from circus fliers, and the members of the tour group get a break from playing in fairgrounds.

"The girls are excited because they get a chance to shop," Dolci said.

One of the most dangerous parts of the show includes an array of big cats. Sterling and Reid boasts the largest mixed cat act in the world titled "Exotic, Endangered Cats of the World." Yaro Hoffmann, along with his wife, Barbara, train and perform with tigers, black panthers and leopards using only treats as an incentive to perform.

"The cats only do behaviors that they would do in the wild. When we are training them (which takes three to five years), we see what they like to do and expound on that." Hoffmann said, "The only thing they do for me that they wouldn’t do in the wild is give me a high-five."

Hoffmann is an eighth generation performer who has been working with the cats for 15 years. The cats in his show come from an endangered animal center in Florida, where the goal is to keep the animals alive and well until they can be released back into the wild. Though, due to the excessive poaching, releasing the animals may be detrimental to their existence.

"The main goal is conservation," Hoffmann said as he stood near his feline friends, "Few people realize the educational aspect of the circus. Not everyone has a zoo to go to, and the circus is a great chance to educate youth about these endangered animals."

As for PETA and other protest groups, Hoffmann says he feels sorry for them.

"A little bit of information is the most dangerous thing in the world. If they really knew what was going on and what we are trying to do here, they would be embarrassed."

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The circus comes to Webster City
Carson & Barnes Circus wows the crowd

By CYNTHIA KANESHIRO Messenger staff writer

WEBSTER CITY — Tons and tons of pachyderms, along with lions, tigers, acrobats and clowns, entertained the crowd Thursday when the Carson & Barnes Circus rolled into town.

Ringmaster Roy Ordaz said the traveling circus left Carroll at 5 a.m. and arrived at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds later Thursday morning.

He said a caravan that included 38 semis, along with 100 other vehicles, are needed for the 231 employees and animals.

‘‘If you lined up the vehicles end to end, they would stretch out two miles,’’ Ordaz said.

Since circuses are synonymous with animals, circuses travel during the cool of the day to provide the most comfort for transporting animals.

Ordaz, of Phoenix, Ariz., became interested in the circus life through a friend who owned a circus.

‘‘He asked me if I wanted to join for one season. I was with him for nine years,’’ Ordaz said.

Now with Carson & Barnes, Ordaz said running away and joining a circus is a great way to enjoy life.

‘‘I’ve been doing this for 15 years. If I did not like it, I wouldn’t be here,’’ Ordaz said.

To be a clown, Ordaz said, the circus prefers to hire from within.

‘‘They have to have lots of years of experience, and they have to get along with everybody. And it is not just skits and routines. They have to know what to do if a performer falls off a rope and is injured. They have to know how to respond,’’ said Ordaz.

The Hugo, Okla.-based circus features performers from all over the world. Luis A. Riojas Ruiz of Peru decided to become a clown when he was 15 years old.

‘‘I have always liked clowns,’’ Ruiz said through Ordaz, who acted as an interpreter. ‘‘I started as a birthday party clown. It makes me feel good to make people laugh and smile,’’ Ruiz said.

Under the big top, Ruiz’s stage name is Zapatilla. ‘‘I try to do something different when performing, and when I’m in a town, I ask clowns to join in,’’ Ruiz said.

Webster City resident Kate Quimby as Tickles the Clown was asked to perform with the Carson & Barnes clowns.

‘‘They tell me what the skits are about. Since the clowns speak another language, we talk in clown speak,’’ Quimby said.

Quimby said she would not run away and join a circus.

‘‘They work too hard. They tear down and set up in one day, and they have two shows a day,’’ Quimby explained.

At any circus, animals acts are always a draw, and the lion tamer gets a lot of attention from the crowd.

Eugenio Baranoc of Russia went to a school to be an acrobat, but then got ‘‘bit’’ by wild animals.

Twenty-eight years ago, he started working with chimpanzees, then moved up to bears and now works with big cats — Siberian tigers, a white tiger and two lions.

‘‘I have never been bitten by a cat. You need to make them know that you are the leader, that you are dominant over them,’’ Baranoc said.

When the show started under the city-block long tent, five rings featured more than 40 acts that were introduced by Ordaz, the ‘‘Golden Voice of the Carson & Barnes Circus.’’

During the two-hour show, lions and tigers performed in the same cage. There were death-defying acts of bravery and balance by acrobats, along with flying trapeze artists who just about touched the top of the big top.

During one point in the show, Jennie, the circus’s baby Asian elephant, took to the center ring to perform for the audience.

Jennie was born in 1998 at the circus world’s Endangered Ark Foundation in the Red River Valley of Oklahoma. The foundation supports and educates the public about endangered species, including Asian elephants.

During Jennie’s performance, she played the harmonica and a drum, and walked a balance beam, which was amazing for such a large animal. Jennie weighs about 2,500 pounds and is about six feet tall.

Today, the circus leaves for Des Moines.

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Facility that owns Lota the elephant faces abuse charges
By JACKIE LOOHAUIS
jloohauis@journalsentinel.com

May 31, 2003

The northern Illinois facility that owns Lota, a former Milwaukee County Zoo elephant who became an international poster pachyderm for animal rights, now faces revocation of its license because of dozens of federal allegations of abusing Lota and other elephants.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently filed a complaint seeking to revoke the operating license of her owner, John Cuneo, alleging that he repeatedly violated the Animal Welfare Act in her treatment. Inspectors investigating the facility cited 47 violations in Cuneo's care of Lota and other elephants.

The 50-year-old Lota became famous in 1990 when the Milwaukee County Zoo, citing problems with her temperament and space limitations for keeping Asian elephants, donated Lota to Cuneo, whose Hawthorn Corp. trains and rents elephant acts to circuses.

Televised video footage of Lota's removal from the zoo showed her collapsing as she was forced into a truck. The footage and Lota's circus work caused an international outpouring of sympathy for her among animal rights advocates, including actors Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Medical treatment an issue
The federal complaint filed in April includes allegations that in 2001 Cuneo and the Hawthorn Corp. "willfully violated" regulations by failing to have their attending veterinarian provide adequate veterinary care to their animals and that it specifically, "failed to obtain treatment for an Asian elephant (Lota) who was excessively thin with a protruding spine and hip bones."

The complaint goes on to claim that Cuneo and the Hawthorn Corp. "willfully violated the handling regulations by exhibiting an Asian elephant (Lota) under conditions that were inconsistent with its good health and well-being."

It also alleges that in 2001 Cuneo willfully violated regulations with other elephants.

Federal inspection reports show that Lota has had serious health problems, including tuberculosis.

An October 2001 report said that Lota was "very thin" and had a mass on her hip. A May 2002 report stated that "Lota was to gain an additional 500 pounds before going back out on the road." She had reportedly regained weight as of the last inspection last fall, according to the USDA.

Cuneo told the Journal Sentinel in a phone interview that Lota and the other elephants at the facility are now "so fat they look like dumplings."

Cuneo rejects claims that Lota has been mistreated over the years and says he plans to fight the attempt to revoke his license. He claims that the USDA and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals "are now working hand-in-hand" against his facility.

He did say that one of the 47 counts in the USDA filing was true, a charge that one of the other elephants at the facility had suffered chemical burns. He blamed the incident on a worker who had accidentally burned one of the elephants with a chemical designed to treat fungal infections. He said the burns had since healed.

Previous investigations
The agriculture agency has investigated Hawthorn Corp. before. In 1998, the federal government fined Cuneo $60,000 and suspended his license over animal welfare act charges. In 1994, it fined Cuneo $12,500 when an elephant belonging to the Hawthorn Corp. rampaged through a crowd in Hawaii, killing one person.

Lota's fate has been the subject of many battles between Cuneo and various animal advocates.

"The entire animal welfare community knows Lota very well," says Carol Buckley, executive director of The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, which has repeatedly offered to take Lota. The Humane Society of the United States filed a federal lawsuit in 1992 in an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim Lota, claiming violation of the Endangered Species Act. In 1997, the Milwaukee County Board, spurred on by County Executive F. Thomas Ament, retained legal counsel to attempt to get Lota back, although the statute of limitations on the transfer had ended.

According to the Milwaukee County Zoo, which came under criticism for Lota's removal, her transfer to Cuneo was made on condition that the elephant never be forced to perform. But Lota has since performed regularly in traveling circuses.

Milwaukee County Zoo spokeswoman Jenny Diliberti says the zoo is not interested in reclaiming Lota, because the original problems with space and Lota's temperament "are still valid today."

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From Circus To Sanctuary, Flora’s On Her Way Home

NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Cristina Colissimo

LOS ANGELES, California (May 28, 2003) – After 18 years performing under the big top, and nearly two decades living alone, Flora, a 20-year-old African elephant, is packing her trunk and moving to her new home, The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. When Flora hid from her fans by retreating into her trailer, Ivor David Balding, founder of the not-for-profit Circus Flora and her guardian of nearly two decades, knew she needed to be with other elephants. He set out to find a permanent home where Flora, who has lived alone in captivity since orphaned by poachers, could become part of an elephant family.

Come this September, Flora will join two female African elephants at The Elephant Sanctuary’s newly expanded 2700-acre natural habitat, the largest refuge exclusively for endangered Asian and African elephants. There, Flora will be able to roam freely on hundreds of acres of forests and pastures in the company of other African elephants.

“Elephants are highly social, and while Flora and I are very attached, she needs to be with other elephants,” said Balding. “After learning that my longtime friend Carol Buckley would be expanding her wonderful sanctuary to include African elephants, I immediately visited and asked if she would take Flora.”

Buckly enthusiastically agreed. Now, the only thing left is to raise $200,000 to build an additional stall for Flora at the Sanctuary’s soon-to-be constructed African elephant barn. Ahali African Elephants, a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization established to care for Flora, has launched a campaign to ensure Flora’s move to The Elephant Sanctuary and has set up a website, www.africanelephants.org, where donations are being accepted.

“The opportunity for Flora to move permanently to The Elephant Sanctuary is a dream come true for all of us who love her,” said Cristina Colissimo, one of Ahali’s founding members. “We’re committed to ensuring Flora’s future, but we need help and are encouraging animal lovers world-wide to visit our web site to help Flora -- think of it as a dowry for her future.”

Ahali African Elephants is the first non-profit organization working exclusively to assist needy elephants by establishing endowments for their long-term care and placement at The Elephant Sanctuary. Flora is the first elephant Ahali has donated to the Sanctuary. Plans are to continue fundraising to support Flora and other elephants. For more information call (310) 858-2995 or visit www.africanelephants.org.

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Charges filed against circus animal farm,
Farm owners deny elephant abuse

By Kevin Roy

May 14, 2003 (McHenry County) — A circus animal farm faces new allegations of elephant abuse that could close the far northwest suburban facility. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cited the owner with nearly 50 violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

The alleged violations include charges of abuse, neglect and improper treatment. But the owner of Hawthorn Corporation in McHenry County says the animals in his care have been treated well. They have appeared in circuses all around the world but if the federal government and animal rights activists have their way the show will not go on. 72-year-old J Cueno. Cueno got his first elephant when he was 13. Now he says a lifetime of work is in jeopardy because animal activists are harassing him and the United States Department of Agriculture is sympathetic to their cause.

"Everybody hates to have false accusations put against them for anything. And now that PETA is working with the USDA to put these things in the media, I think we have to fight back, " said John Cuneo, farm owner.

His Hawthorne Corporation just south of the Wisconsin border is now facing 47 violations of the Animal Welfare Act. He has faced fines and charges before, but this time USDA is looking to shut him down for good. Take the case of an elephant in her upper 60'S. Five violations were written because of injuries to her feet. He admits the trainer used too much of a chemical which burned her foot. He says the trainer has since been fired. In another case, inspectors claim one elephant was so thin her hips and spine were protruding.

"She's not thin. Unfortunately, she's got this ugly, bony head," said Cuneo.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says Hawthorne has a long history of abusing and neglecting animals and should be closed.

"These animals are not being treated humanely or receiving the best veterinary care. There are photos showing skin hanging on bones in some cases," said Debbie Leahy, PETA.

They also breed and train dozens of rare white tigers. They have settled out of court in the past to save legal expenses, but this time they are vowing to fight.

"And now suddenly they're coming in and telling us that we're abusing animals. How ridiculous is that? You can tell, I get very upset just talking about it. Because that's been my life," said Herta Cuneo, farm owner.

A spokesperson for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says they are looking to have Cuneo's license revoked, but they say they would be open to an out of court settlement if a deal can be reached. Cuneo says this time they've gone too far and no matter what the cost, he'll see them in court.

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Citing abuse, U.S. seeks to shut circus-animal farm
By Jeff Long and Jon Yates
Tribune staff reporters

May 14, 2003

Dozens of elephants, tigers and lions have roamed the grounds outside John Cuneo's McHenry County circus training facility for decades. For the last 10 years, allegations of animal abuse have stalked closely behind.

Now, federal authorities want to revoke his company's license after inspectors cited 47 violations of the Animal Welfare Act, from failing to cut elephants' toenails to improperly treating an elephant suffering from severe chemical burns and a bacterial infection.

Inspectors found one elephant so thin that its hips and spine were protruding, and another alleged to have been abused during training, according to court papers.

Nearly a dozen of the charges stem from an Oct. 27, 2001, incident in which two of Cuneo's elephants, Debbie and Judy, got loose from handlers in North Carolina after a performance in Charlotte. Investigators said the elephants went on a brief rampage, bashing a car and smashing a church window before they were brought under control.

No stranger to controversy, Cuneo has faced protests, charges and fines in the past. But this time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is looking to shut down his business, Hawthorn Corp., for good.

Cuneo, scion of a prominent Lake County family, said he has settled with the USDA in previous cases but this time will fight the charges. He denies his animals are mistreated.

"You know before you start you're going to lose," he said of the charges, filed before a USDA administrative law judge in Washington, D.C. "It's nonsense, a kangaroo court--their own court."

If Cuneo loses the case, the USDA could permanently revoke his license to exhibit animals or yank it for a period of several years, effectively shutting down the business he has run for more than 45 years.

"If these animals are so badly cared for, so mistreated, so dirty, nobody would want them," Cuneo said. "They're the best-looking animals in the country."

Even some of his detractors acknowledge that most of his animals are treated well. But Cuneo has had problems in the past.

History of mishaps

In 1994, Cuneo agreed to pay a $12,000 fine after an elephant he owned named Tyke went berserk in Honolulu, killing its trainer and injuring several people before police shot and killed it.

"That was an accident," Cuneo said Tuesday. "We know it. They're big animals. Once in a while, you're going to have an accident. It was no mistreatment."

Four years after the Hawaii incident, Cuneo reached an agreement with the government to pay $60,000 and have his license suspended for 45 days after two of his elephants died of tuberculosis.

"We never pleaded guilty to anything," Cuneo said. "It wasn't a fine. It was a settlement."

Cuneo started Hawthorn Corp. in 1957 in Libertyville and has built it into one of the largest providers of performing elephants and tigers in the country. In 1974, he built a 20-acre farm outside Richmond, where the animals are cared for when they're not touring.

The farm is surrounded by pine trees and sheltered from its rural neighbors by a 10-foot fence topped with barbed wire. Passersby can sometimes hear the trumpeting of an elephant.

Cuneo said his inventory includes 19 elephants, a lion and 84 tigers, the largest group of registered tigers in the world. His animals have performed across the U.S., in Europe and in Asia, figuring prominently in circuses and other shows.

It is a far cry from the Cuneo family business. His father, John Sr., founded Cuneo Press, a printing company, and at one time owned 3,000 acres in what would become Libertyville and Vernon Hills, making the Cuneo name widely known in Chicago's north suburbs.

Now, the name is also widely known among animal rights activists.

Debbie Leahy, director of the captive and exotic animals department at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said she believes Hawthorn Corp. should be shut down.

"We think it's pretty obvious that these animals are in a state of unrelieved suffering," she said. "We'd love to see the animals seized."

So would Carol Buckley, founder and executive director of the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn. Buckley, whose facility houses six elephants, calls Cuneo's operation "terrible."

"I think his animals are not cared for," said Buckley, who takes in retired circus and abused elephants. Buckley said Cuneo's license should be revoked.

Owner, trainers accused

The most recent allegations were filed after members of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service allegedly found problems with Cuneo's operation on 10 occasions between March 29, 2001 and June 1, 2002.

Cited along with Cuneo are three trainers under contract with Hawthorn Corp. and John N. Caudill Jr., the owner of Walker Brothers Circus in Sarasota, Fla. Caudill did not return a phone call.

No court date has been set.

Some of the allegations involve animals found at Cuneo's Richmond facility; others involve animals he owned that were under contract to circuses or exhibits elsewhere.

One elephant named Delhi was found on five occasions to have injuries, from an open lesion on her foot on March 29, 2001, to severe tissue damage on her front feet on April 23, 2002. The trainer who treated that animal, John N. Caudill III--son of the Walker Brothers Circus owner--has been fired, Cuneo said.

He said a veterinarian had prescribed a low dosage of a chemical to treat Delhi's foot, but the trainer used too much.

"This young man figured if a little was good, a lot is better, and he burned the elephant's foot," Cuneo said. "I don't believe he had a malicious intent in the world. He just thought if 2 ounces are good, 22 ounces would be better."

Cuneo said the elephant has made an almost full recovery.

Other allegations stemmed from more high-profile incidents.

Investigators said the Oct. 27, 2001, Charlotte incident started when an elephant named Judy stumbled into Debbie, the elephant walking in front of it. They began fighting and wound up crashing into the Word of Life Church, breaking a window.

One official familiar with the case said Cuneo knew Debbie had "anger management" issues and had caused problems in the past. In 1995, the official said, the elephant got loose in Hanover, Pa., and ran into a Sears store. Later that year, Debbie got loose again in New York.

The USDA also contends that Cuneo or his workers abused several elephants by scratching them with hooks. Cuneo denied ever abusing the animals.

"Where are the marks on them?" Cuneo said. "How do you beat an animal without putting a mark on them? It's a bunch of lies."

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PETA heaps heavy charges on local exotic animal trainer
May 8, 2003

By MARC JENKINS
Managing Editor

An animal rights activist group is urging the immediate confiscation of 98 elephants and tigers belonging to a Grayslake circus animal trainer.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) responded to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's leveling of charges on April 9 which include alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act against John Cuneo, owner of Hawthorn Corporation, which professionally rents and trains circus animals nationally from its headquarters in rural Grayslake.

Those accusations say Hawthorn Corp. physically abused elephants causing harm and discomfort, failed to provide veterinary care to an emaciated elephant and unsafe public contact according to PETA director Debbie Leahy.

Leahy said several of Cuneo's elephants have had deadly foot problems, human strains of tuberculosis, bacterial infections and that the animals came in unsafe contact with the public.

"(Cuneo) has one of the worst records we've ever seen," Leahy said. "We've been monitoring Hawthorn for years. His elephants have been involved in rampages that have caused deaths and injuries."

PETA, Lahey said, is most concerned about a 51-year-old elephant named "Loda," which gained heavy local media attention in 1990, when it was given to Hawthorn from the Milwaukee County Zoo.

"(Cuneo) made an agreement to not use her in shows," Lahey said. "He violated that agreement and now she has contracted a human strain of tuberculosis.

"We're very concerned that if she's not confiscated soon, she's going to die."

If PETA is successful in its push to liberate the animals from Cuneo's control, it would send the elephants to a sanctuary in Tennessee, Lahey said.

"I've written to him the past, appealing to let Lota retire," Lahey said. "He flat out refuses (to retire her).

This year's charges are just some in a long history of rampages, violations and deaths linked to Hawthorn Corporation, according to a PETA timeline.

Those include:

In 2002, Hawthorn was cited for causing behavioral stress, physical harm and unnecessary discomfort to "Delhi," an elephant, in April. Chemical burns, PETA said, were found on its feet as a result of a trainer‹who would later be fired. Delhi's feet her allegedly soaked in undiluted formaldehyde, causing its front legs to swell to twice the normal size.‹In October, a Virginian-Pilot story reported that a Hawthorn trainer, David Creech, was convicted on three counts of animal cruelty.

In 2001, two Hawthorn elephants rampaged at a Charlotte, N.C. church, causing a reported $75,000 in damages.

In 1999, Hawthorn allegedly tried to use an elephant named "Frieda" in a public exhibition, because it had rampaged several times while touring with a circus. Frieda was back with a traveling circus in May 2000.

In 1996, two Hawthorn elephants, suffering from tuberculosis, died within days of each other in August.

In 1995, a Hawthorn worker was allegedly instructed to beat an elephant with an ax handle, while food deprivation and electric shocks from a cattle prod were used on an elephant.

In 1994, An elephant, "Tyke," crushed her trainer to death in an Aug. 20 incident in Honolulu and injured two others and wreaked havoc on the city's downtown streets during rush hour. Police shot the elephant 87 times before it died. In December, a Hawthorn elephant died of tuberculosis.

In 1993, "Tyke" caused the following: On April 21, it ran out of control at an Altoona, Penn. mosque, causing 4,500 children to flee. The following day, Tyke attacked a tiger trainer and on July 23, at the North Dakota state fair, Tyke trampled and injured a handler while running amok for 25 minutes.

In 1988, a handler was observed beating an African elephant in public where the elephant was screaming and bending down on its legs to avoid being hit. The handler, John Caudill, was said to admit to disciplining the elephant after it hit his brother and put a hole in his back with its tusk.

In 1978, a Hawthorn elephant picked up her trainer with her trunk and threw him into a pillar, killing the trainer.

Cuneo and his company have had official charges brought forth only twice, said USDA spokesman Jim Rogers. The USDA regulates the Class C animal handlers' licenses, which Cuneo has.

Rogers confirmed that those prior charges were dismissed‹one in March 1998 and another in May 1996. Both times, Cuneo settled out-of-court for fines of $60,000 and $12,500 respectively in administrative court proceedings.

"He did have his license suspended for 45 days in 1998 and for 21 days in 1997," Rogers said. "You can look at the violations and make your own judgements. We have those who have violations and we have those who don't."

In 1997, CNN reported about a 3,000-pound baby Asian elephant, stuck in an airplane hangar in Miami, touched off an investigation, which led to Cuneo's 21-day license suspension.

According to the story, the elephant was "detained and denied travel into Puerto Rico, where he was to have performed, because the USDA believes (it) may have tuberculosis.

"Cuneo knew about the elephant's illness when he tried to take the animal out of the country. In a phone interview (with CNN) Cuneo denied the allegation.

"We had a permit for Puerto Rico, and they knew about the TB and chest X-ray," Cuneo said.

Cuneo was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday, the day the allegations and charges against Hawthorn and Cuneo were brought to Lakeland's attention.

At last count in 2001, Rogers said, there were 2,549 Class C licenses for exhibitors of animals.

Cuneo has 60 days to respond to the current USDA charges, levied April 9.

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Beer Truck Corrals Runaway Elephant
May 8, 2003

MANILA (Reuters) - A runaway Thai elephant brought chaos and cheers to the streets of Manila on Thursday until a passing beer truck helped herd him back to an animal show.

Children cheered the elephant as police kept back crowds trying to catch a glimpse of an animal not native to the Philippines, let alone the traffic-clogged streets of Manila.

'The elephant crossed over a fence and just ran away during a practice. This is unusual since Jumbo is obedient,' said one handler at the 10-elephant show.

Organizers credited the driver of a San Miguel beer delivery truck for eventually blocking the elephant's way and allowing his handlers to chain him to a small tree before placating him with bananas and cooling jets from a hose.

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Exclusive: Send In The Spies?
May 2, 2003

A freelance journalist says Kenneth Feld, owner of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, hired a former CIA covert operations chief to track her and divert her from writing about the circus.

The journalist, Jan Pottker, tells her story for the first time to Morley Safer on 60 Minutes, Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Pottker says that eight years after she wrote a negative article about the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, she found out that the man the circus had hired to carry out the operation was an ex-CIA official convicted of lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair.

He was Clair George, former deputy director of operations and head of covert operations for the CIA. “When I saw Clair George’s name ... I became so frightened, I thought I would faint,” she tells Safer.

Pottker says she found out about the plan to stop her circus reporting in 1998 at a meeting with Charles Smith, former chief financial officer of Feld Entertainment. “He told me I had been surveilled for eight years by the Ringling Brothers Circus,” says Pottker.

Part of the scheme involved having an associate of George approach Pottker and offer to act as an editor and advisor. What she didn’t know was that he was on the payroll of George and the Feld organization. It was his mission to gather information on her reporting efforts and to keep her away from future circus stories.

Pottker, who is suing Feld for fraud and conspiracy, estimates he spent $3 million on the scheme.

“Here I am, a woman raising two kids, writing in my spare time, a Girl Scout leader. Three million dollars to surveil me,” she tells Safer, “to try to know everything I was thinking and everything I was going to do.”

In a letter to 60 Minutes, Feld’s company, Feld Entertainment, says it denies the allegations in Pottker’s suit and says that it will defend itself vigorously against them

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'Greatest show on Earth' is closer to its billing
By Karen Heller
Inquirer Staff Writer
April 2003

Bello Nock is a star. In the circus pantheon, he is a major deity.
Bello is the Elvis Presley of clowns, though his hair is decidedly more
Jerry Lee Lewis, a straight vertical shock of red, a tonsorial marvel
molded, he claims, with hair spray and Viagra.

It is possible to go to the circus and fall madly in love.

So it was a happy day, a few years ago, when the sixth-generation
big-top performer arrived from the jewel of the Big Apple Circus to
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, then the Mall of America of family
entertainments with a lack of focus and a gift for overkill. The circus
wasn't so much the greatest show on Earth as the most interminable.

All that, I'm happy to report, has changed for the better. Bello, a
gifted acrobat, is now the center that holds this venerable yet
ever-changing extravaganza together. At 21/2 hours, including a
15-minute intermission, the show has been streamlined. It never drags,
even on opening night Wednesday, when technical problems with the safety
net prevented the trapeze artists from performing. The show must go on,
and so it did, with the audience hardly aware of the problem. (The bolt
was fixed hours later.)

Ringling Bros. is still over the top - that's expected - but the
133th Edition (Ringling's lingo, as if it were a classic of literature)
is modern, memorable and dazzling. Impresario Kenneth Feld and his team
have borrowed liberally from other venues with great success.

There are astonishing Chinese acrobats - a redundancy - a staple of
Cirque du Soleil. The oversized puppets, billed as "animal kites," are
straight out of Broadway's The Lion King. The dancing revue is very
Vegas; the costumes, extremely Versace. Or is it Versace that's
extremely circusy? A chicken-and-egg question, if there ever was one.
Daredevil motorcyclists give the event an X-sport cachet. The Brazilian
dancers offer a distinct Mardi Gras feel, plus something for Daddy.

The circus was multitasking long before that became a daily headache
in American life. The three-ring format is still in use, though only
once does the show rely on three distinct acts performing
simultaneously, which is often dizzying and distracting. For the most
part, as with the Hebei acrobats in two-man imperial lion costumes, the
same stunts are done in all three.

Modern times have caught up with even old-fashioned Ringling Bros.
Stentorian ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson, a tall drink of water, is
African American, as is "gentleman cowboy" Andre McClain. The show is
distinguished by an inclusive international feel, when the same can't be
said of the United Nations. Even the clowns, save one, have forgone fat
suits. Today's clown is buff.

And so what remains of the old, and of discomfort to some, are the
animals. While only three protesters quietly stood outside the First
Union Spectrum, children inside were questioning the treatment of the
tigers, elephants and especially the Friesian, Arabian and Palomino
horses as Sacha Houcke unsmilingly cracked his whip. Houcke is far
scarier than the tigers, or their trainer, Mark Oliver Gebel, son of
legend Gunther Gebel-Williams.

Ringling Bros. goes to considerable lengths passing out literature
about the menagerie's treatment. The truth is that the human performers
are now so strong and varied that, as stunning as it seems, the circus
could do away with quadripeds altogether - well, perhaps not the
adorable dogs - and be just as strong.

Some things about the circus have not changed. It's still expensive,
a carny come-on of gewgaws, only more so. Cotton candy? Ten bucks,
though it comes with a clown hat. Snow cone? Ditto, served in
animal-shaped stein. We're talking $20 to please the wee ones with sugar
and ice.

Bailey's Comet, the finale, is billed as this edition's big number.
" Are you set to spontaneously combust from sheer exhilaration?" Iverson
taunts. Then Brian Miser is shot from a cannon while encased in flames,
though it's over in seconds. For my money, the showstoppers are the
Hebei acrobats, and the miraculous Torres brothers from Paraguay, six
motorcyclists zooming around a 16-foot-high sphere nicknamed "the Globe
of Death." Jaws scraped the floor of the Spectrum in disbelief.

The circus offers one moment of accidental humor when ringmaster
Iverson leads the troupe in a song featuring the lyrics "Keep it real -
it's the circus," an oxymoron if there ever was one.

Please. The circus offers so much, and this edition is a winner, but
reality, blessedly, isn't even on the program.

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The darker side of the circus hoopla
By Marlene Fanta Shyer

Christian Science Monitor
Friday, April 18, 2003

With the world in turmoil and the daily news filled with man's
inhumanity to man, now seems a perfect time for lighthearted
distraction. It's spring, and the circus is coming to town.

Clowns and popcorn seem the order of the day for my
grandchildren, who are exposed to the tenor of grim TV news like
everyone else.

Not so fast. Circuses aren't what they seem.

Long before they were born, I went on a safari to Kenya. That's
when I saw my first elephant in the wild and I'll never forget it.
Unlike the solitary circus elephant, on safari we saw them only in
clusters - as a herd or family. Often there'd be a baby guarded by
its mother. Our guide kept us at a distance, explaining that a
female elephant could turn fierce if her young were threatened.

The vision of elephant families moving freely across the Kenyan
plain is one I can't reconcile with what passes for entertainment in
most circuses. No elephants sit on small stools or dance on hind
legs in Africa, and how they are taught to do so is one issue that
has driven more and more American towns - even some nations - to ban
live animal acts.

People like me - who once enjoyed the circus hoopla, the very
idea and excitement of tigers jumping through fire hoops - never
questioned the means to those ends. But it's not what I thought.
It's not a pat on an animal's head and peanuts that encourage an
elephant to become an unpaid actor.

Carol Buckley, who now runs the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald,
Tenn., worked in circuses for 15 years. She shelters emotionally
disturbed and injured elephants who were mismanaged in captivity.

Circus elephants are often forced to endure extreme temperatures
and travel long distances crammed in box cars - large circuses can
travel up to 48 weeks of the year. Trainers sometimes withhold food
and water to reduce untimely excrement during the shows.

Ms. Buckley says confined elephants, traditionally kept in place
by chains holding a foreleg and diagonal rear leg, show signs of
psychological stress by spending much of their time bobbing their
heads or swaying side to side. Buckley confirms that elephants are
universally mistreated, "managed by the use of force and
intimidation, controlled by bullhooks or worse and used where they
will cause the greatest pain."

Former animal trainers have admitted that muzzles, whips,
electric prods, and even baseball bats are used to tame and train.
Newly captured animals are tied down and beaten until they obey.

Bears may be muzzled, their noses broken, and paws burned to
teach them to walk on their hind legs. Tigers have been burned
jumping through those hoops of fire. Typically, when not performing,
tigers are kept in cages with hardly room to turn around, where they
eat, sleep, and defecate. When circus animals rebel for behaving as
their true natures dictate, they are punished - occasionally shot
and killed. When these animals are enslaved, forced through cruelty
and intimidation to dance, ride bicycles, or perform other unnatural
acts, is this a fit spectacle for my small grandchildren?

As a member of the highest species, I think it is our
responsibility to show compassion toward creatures who are helpless.
To stay away proves the better lesson for them: Even if they are
" only animals," we know they think and suffer and mourn.

I don't want my grandchildren to see them as captives in a side
show, tormented and brutalized into unnatural displays for our
amusement. I want them to see the animals as I saw them in Africa -
free, wild, and true to themselves, as nature intended them to be.

* Marlene Fanta Shyer is the author of 'The Rainbow Kite'
(2002).(c) Copyright 2003. The Christian Science Monitor

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Activists decry use of animals in circus

By Ted Streuli
The Daily News

Published March 31, 2003

BACLIFF — Where the circus goes, controversy follows.

Animal rights activists claim Carson and Barnes, the circus performing in Bacliff today and Tuesday, uses abusive training techniques and that wild animals should not be forced to live in captivity. The circus counters that their animals are well cared for and that the animals live happy, healthy lives.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals compiled a video that shows a Carson and Barnes elephant trainer teaching other handlers how to train the pachyderms.

Tim Frisco, the trainer, is shown using a bull hook and an electric prod, telling the other handlers to, “sink that hook into them.” Frisco instructs the other men to hurt the elephants and to, “make them scream.”

Frisco now works for another circus, but PETA spokeswoman Leslie Armstrong said the techniques depicted on the tape are used universally. “To gain control, they have to do that,” Armstrong said.

According to the Carson and Barnes Web site, the company’s animal trainers use only positive reinforcement as a training method.

In a Feb. 5 e-mail, U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman Jim Rogers told PETA’s Debbie Leahy that Carson and Barnes was fined $400 in December for improper handling of animals because of the taped evidence.

Carson and Barnes Operations Manager Roy Ordaz once worked as Frisco’s assistant. He conceded that Frisco was difficult to work with but said the elephants aren’t abused.

“There is a certain kind of discipline you have to have with anything,” Ordaz said. “It’s not cruelty; I’ve never seen any cruel acts here.”

Ordaz argued that Frisco’s actions and comments on the tape were directed at the other handlers and that he was trying to teach them to handle the elephants with authority, not fear.

“The circus animals live better than the performers do,” said Ordaz. “Why would you be abusive toward them when they make your living?”

Both sides argue that the other is motivated by money. Ordaz claimed that PETA takes in millions but does little to directly help animals.

Armstrong said the circus is there solely for profit and that spending money on animal care hurts the bottom line. “We’re not trying to take away the circus,” said Armstrong. “Bring on the clowns and the trapeze artists. We’re just trying to eliminate the abuse. You really can do it without the animals.”

Ordaz said the elephants are the stars of the show; there’s even a fan club for the show’s youngest elephant, Baby Jennie.

“Children should learn about their behavior in their environment,” said Armstrong. “They’re seeing elephants wearing tutus. That doesn’t teach them anything.”

Armstrong also said performing elephants pose a danger to audiences. She said 61 people were killed in such situations in the past 12 years. “I can’t imagine taking my kids to the circus,” she said.

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Laws to help circus elephants
Copyright 2003 Nationwide News Pty Limited
March 24, 2003 Monday

CIRCUS elephants will never be lonely again. New laws have been introduced to ensure they always have a mate.

Changes to Queensland's compulsory code of practice for circuses will force them to house elephants together after reports the animals can become depressed when alone.

Under the State Government code, circus elephants will only be allowed to be separated if they constantly fight but even then circuses will have to ensure they are still able see each other from their separate enclosures.

Circuses which fail to meet the new laws face fines of up to $22,500. The change follows the case of Arna, a circus elephant who allegedly suffered depression and loneliness after the death of her companion Bambi in 1996.

Animal rights groups claimed cruelty against the circus for allowing a herd animal such as Arna to be kept alone.

The circus denied Arna was ill-treated or lonely and the case is still before the NSW courts.

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Neither the lawyers for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals nor the circus owners asked Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Robert W. Wooldridge Jr. to seal their case file, which contains the pleadings in a lawsuit PETA filed last May.

Not only did Wooldridge remove the case from public view, but he ordered PETA to remove a copy from its Web site, said PETA's attorney, Philip J. Hirschkop.

Virginia court records normally are open to the public unless one or both sides convince a judge there is a compelling reason to seal a document.

"There would typically be a very specific reason, which might not apply to the entire file but a particularly sensitive part of it," said Robert M. O'Neil, a University of Virginia law professor and director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. "The idea that the judge would do it sua sponte [on his own motion], it strikes me as very strange," O'Neil added.

Wooldridge declined to comment.

The issue emerged after PETA filed suit alleging that Kenneth Feld, president of Feld Entertainment, which owns Ringling Bros., and an associate, Richard Froemming, conspired to infiltrate and disrupt animal-rights groups. The lawsuit alleges that Feld and Froemming engaged in theft, electronic surveillance and lies to harm PETA and other groups.

Feld and Froemming responded with a motion to strike the "immaterial and scandalous allegations" from the case.

After both sides filed briefs, Wooldridge held a hearing Dec. 20 in which he denied the motion to strike the allegations. But the judge then surprised both sides. According to transcript excerpts cited by Hirschkop in papers filed Tuesday to the state Supreme Court, Wooldridge said allegations were made against parties not formally named in the lawsuit. The judge said the court had a "compelling interest to ensure that nonparties, who really have no standing to protect themselves in the context of this litigation, receive that kind of attention from the court, and I find that sealing the court's file is the least burdensome and most narrowly tailored way to do that."

The judge then said Hirschkop could "talk to people from the New York Times anytime he likes. All I've done is seal the file."

Wooldridge later acknowledged that ordering PETA to remove the lawsuit from its Web site raised First Amendment issues of free speech.

But in a letter opinion issued in January, he reiterated his intent to keep the case file from public view.

"What the judge did is outrageous -- there's no basis for it," said Hirschkop, noting that conspiracy allegations often name non-defendants.

The state Supreme Court set a defining precedent in 1988, Hirschkop said, when it ruled that all civil proceedings are presumed open unless one party proves "an interest so compelling that it cannot be protected reasonably by some measure other than a protective order . . . and that any such order must be drafted in the manner least restrictive of the public's interest."

The lawyers for Feld and Froemming declined to comment.

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Exotic circus animals hard act to swallow
Thursday, March 13, 2003
By LICIA CORBELLA, EDITOR
Calgary News

Step right up, step right up. The circus is in town. Get your peanuts, popcorn and a healthy dose of animal torture, here.

That's right, treat the kids; torment a tiger. It's a dandy lesson to teach the tykes.

Tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, the Shrine Circus will be under the big top at the Pengrowth Saddledome complete with elephants, lions and tigers.

Now, it's important for me to point out that the Shriners do an enormous amount of good in the world and a small portion of that good is funded through the proceeds from these circuses. Needless to say, it is not easy to criticize something affiliated with such a worthwhile organization.

But criticize I must.

Three years ago, I attended the Shrine Circus with my then 2 1/2-year-old twin boys and vowed then that I'd never attend another circus that used wild, exotic animals for entertainment.

What caused such an epiphany? One of my sons saw clearly with his not-yet three-year-old eyes what I wilfully refused to see -- that the animals were miserable and terribly treated, and what's more, the routines that contained lions and elephants were, frankly, extremely boring.

The act in question occurred in the centre ring with a number of lions and tigers. The show consisted of a man cracking a whip and getting reluctant beasts to jump up on large step stools and jump through fiery hoops.

At one point, the male lion -- with his magnificent mane -- fell off his perch and was lodged between the perch and the enclosure. One of my sons said: "That's not very nice for the lion. Poor lion."

I almost wept with pride for my son and pity for the lion. The next day I did some research on exotic circus animals and found out what happened in the ring was the humane stuff! The rest of their lives are much, much worse. One has to wonder why, if circuses want to have animals perform in their shows, they don't use domesticated animals that love to perform, such as dogs and horses.

Such repugnance to exotic animal circus acts is catching on. So far, 30 municipalities across Canada have banned circuses that use exotic animals in their show and the Shriners have adapted.

Cheryl Wallach, manager of community relations with the Calgary Humane Society, says it's difficult to get Calgary city council to consider banning circuses that use exotic animals because that leads directly to the issue of the animals used for our entertainment in the Calgary Stampede.

However, Wallach says the distinction between the Stampede and the circus is the Stampede doesn't use exotic animals.

"We strongly encourage people to understand the suffering they are supporting when they go to see a circus with wild animals in it," she says.

Kim Robinson, performing animal program co-ordinator with Zoocheck in Toronto, says circus animals lead "hellish" lives.

"These lions and tigers live anywhere from 23 to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year in a little cage about the size of your average kitchen table," says Robinson. "They have to eat, sleep, urinate and defecate in there," she says. "They have no quality of life at all."

"If the Calgary Zoo kept its lions locked up in small cages 23 hours a day people would be outraged," she states.

She's bang on and yet many of us just assume things are blissful backstage for these glorious creatures.

But what's truly baffling about circuses refusing to relinquish the boring and cruel animal acts is the circuses that don't use animals are by far the more popular.

Cirque du Soleil, which is coming here June 4-22, always sells out. Yesterday I logged onto its website (www.cirquedusoleil.com) and I spent $315.25 for four tickets! Ticket prices are $65 to $185 per adult.

In contrast, the most expensive ticket at the Shrine Circus is $19 with the majority selling for $13 and it never sells out.

If that doesn't send the Shriners a message, then you should. Boycott circuses with exotic animals in it. Help turf the torture.

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Elephant center breeds optimism but the circus-run facility is also criticized by animal rights groups.
Mar 3, 2003
Herald Tribune
POLK CITY -- Tucked away off an unmarked dirt road, 26 Asian elephants lumber around a spacious compound run by "The Greatest Show on Earth."

The Center for Elephant Conservation, owned by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, says it produces performers for the circus and helps preserve the endangered species by focusing on captive breeding.

But animal activists complain that the center is more concerned with the bottom line than with helping the species survive. Conservation experts say captive breeding may help but cannot alone stop the declining Asian elephant population, which has dwindled to an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 worldwide, mostly in southeast Asia.

"They're disappearing at an alarming rate," said John Kirtland, who oversees the care of the animals at the center. "Without some sort of significant help, the Asian elephant will disappear as a wild species in 20 years."

The circus, which has about two dozen elephants on tour, provides lifetime care for the animals, regardless of whether they become performers. "Not every elephant goes to the circus," Kirtland said, noting that some don't have the right personality. "We've got a couple of elephants here who clearly don't belong in the circus."

At the center, about 50 miles east of Tampa, five infants were born within a 13-month period ending in May 2002. Trainers will know in the next few years whether they're suitable for the circus, which they could join at about age 4.

The elephants roam about 150 acres of the 200-acre center, though not freely. They're herded around to pens of about 3 acres each. Electrified fences enclose some of the outdoor pens while steel fences surround others. Because they're more aggressive, male elephants are kept alone behind the stronger fences.

"You have to have some ability to manage the animals. They don't all get along together," Kirtland said.

The Polk City compound, which opened in 1995, has two barns that can be heated or cooled. The larger one houses the females and six birthing pens with 24-hour audio and video monitoring systems, an elevated observation room and an automatic waste disposal system.

The other houses five breeding males. The males are usually indoors during the day, when they eat, and are kept in outdoor pens overnight. The males live alone so they don't have to compete for dominance as they would in the wild.

Most of the trees that had been in the pens have been torn down by the elephants, and 200-pound balls are easily tossed out.

In one pen, two female elephants watch as their children, P.T. and Gunther, playfully butt heads and entwine their trunks before ambling over to a 20-foot log. P.T. is the center's newest addition, a 9-month-old, 1,000-pound pachyderm who spends most of his time with his 12,000-pound mother, Josky, and 13-month-old Gunther and his mother, Mala. P.T. will probably be weaned in the next year or so, which animal activists say is premature compared with elephants in the wild.

The center has complied with all regulations and standards since 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has jurisdiction over the circus.

Activists cite a 1999 USDA report that found scars on two baby elephants that had been chained at the center. The report said the animals were restricted from any movement except side-to-side swaying in an effort to separate them from their mothers.

The circus has disputed details of the report, but the USDA cited it for noncompliance, said agency spokesman Jim Rogers. The circus was not fined but officials sent a letter to the circus stating that while the method used for weaning was traditional, there was evidence that the handling of the animals "caused trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm and unnecessary discomfort."

"These elephants in the wild stay with their mothers until they're adolescents," said Deniz Bolbol, spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based Citizens for Cruelty-Free Circuses.

She said the USDA's finding showed that the circus was motivated by making money, not protecting the elephants.

"Their only reason for trying to get these elephants to reproduce is to make a buck off of them," she said. "If they're not making a buck on every elephant, the elephants are useless to them."

The weaning process starts early because animals at the center are more physically and mentally developed than those in the wild, Kirtland said. Center employees use ropes because of the sheer size of the elephants. "That's a 1,500-pound animal," he said. "You can't push it, pick it up or carry it."

Peak breeding for a female elephant is a 10-15 year period in her 20s and 30s. Gestation is 22 months and usually produces a single calf. Elephant longevity equals that of humans -- some 70 years or so.

Ringling also operates a 20-acre elephant compound in Williston, about 21 miles south of Gainesville, with about 10 nonbreeding seniors and some elephants that are under quarantine for tuberculosis treatment. Beside conflict with man and poaching, the loss of habitat is the greatest threat to Asian elephants, said Ginette Hemley, vice president of species conservation at World Wildlife Fund in Washington. "If we don't save the habitat, we don't save the species."

Kirtland said research by the center will help elephants in the wild, including a study of how elephants process smell and how that can be used to prevent them from damaging farmers' crops.

"The long-term goal is to come up with a way to create a chemical repellent that would serve to be a boundary around a rice field or a palm plantation to minimize the human-elephant conflict, because right now that is the biggest threat to elephants in Asia," Kirtland said.

Scott Riddle, who runs Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in Quitman, Ark., said almost any group of elephants in the wild is manipulated or managed by humans in some way. Riddle opened his nonprofit sanctuary in 1990 and accepts elephants from circuses, zoos, and private owners unable to provide adequate care.

"Captive population is what's going to keep the wild population alive," Riddle said. "If we don't intervene for elephants, they're going to go away. They're not going to be around."

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Elephant leaves circus, strolls through town ; Trainers corral the animal to return to Muskegon circus performance
The Grand Rapids Press
Copyright 2003 Sunday, March 2, 2003 City & Region .
Lisa Medendorp / Grand Rapids Press News Service

MUSKEGON -- Sheba the elephant proved she was a real trouper Friday. The 8-foot tall, 9,000-pound pachyderm was waiting in a tent behind the L.C. Walker Arena for the morning performance of the Jordan World Circus when she got a scare. "They brought the ponies out, and it just startled her," said her trainer, Louie Delmoral.

Sheba promptly packed her trunk and walked off the job just as the show was starting. The 30-year-old African elephant took a 15-minute stroll around downtown Muskegon -- crossing both Muskegon and Webster avenues, Muskegon's busy downtown thoroughfares -- before she was safely returned to the tent.

No one was injured, no property was damaged and no Tarzan calls were required to subdue her.

An hour or so later, Sheba and her companion, Limba, a 40-year- old Asian elephant, were performing in the ring to the delight of hundreds of children at the 18th annual Shrine Circus.

"She's been around a long time," said Delmoral, who has had Sheba for the past 20 years. "She has a wonderful personality."

Muskegon police got the call of an escaped elephant at 10:29 a.m. As officers began to respond to the area, they were told to shut off their sirens. "My concern was someone coming up with a siren or someone blowing a horn and spooking the elephant," said Patrol Capt. William Wiebenga. "I couldn't believe it when they called me and said they had a loose elephant downtown," said Muskegon County Animal Control Officer Pam Spetoskey, who no doubt wondered just what she was going to do about it. Muskegon Patrol Officer Clay Orrison said he first saw the elephant on Fifth Street between Houston and Muskegon avenues.

"It crossed Muskegon Avenue. Can you imagine driving down the road and seeing an elephant?" he said. "The traffic was light, thank God."

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Why Is There An Elephant In the Street? - February 28, 2003
MUSKEGON (Michigan) -- People in downtown Muskegon got quite a surprise Friday morning, after an elephant escaped from the Shrine Circus.

The elephant escaped from a tent behind the L.C. Walker Arena and headed toward Webster Avenue. The elephant's trainer led him into the tent and then went back to close it up. That's when the elephant took off.
It was cornered a couple of blocks away from the arena and led back home by a police escort and its trainer. While he was out, many said they were shocked to see a creature like that running loose.

Marcia Sieplinga says she was taking a student down to the circus and saw the elephant with police cars around it.
"He just had a good old time walking down the road. He left a little mess along the way. The police were laughing about who was going to go back and clean that up," Sieplinga says.

Nobody was injured by the animal. A couple of streets were shut down for half an hour. The elephant was in the tent so children could ride him in a warm area. The animal was part of the shrine circus in town for the weekend in Muskegon.

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Perth bans circus animal acts - February 26, 2003
ABC News Online
February 26, 2003

Perth is to ban circus acts that use wild animals such as big cats, elephants and primates.

The decision follows the rejection last year of an application by a circus to visit the city.

Under the reforms, circuses that use domestic animals that have a good relationship with the performers will be permitted in the city.

Circuses will also be required to comply with the animal welfare act.

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Neither snow nor ice nor wintry blend halts circus - February 23, 2003
By MARLON MANUEL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Not even a winter storm can ice the Greatest Show on Earth.

But it can slow it down.

Packed with elephants, camels, zebras, high-wire walkers and clowns, the Cincinnati-to-Atlanta train hauling the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus arrived on the CSX Railroad platform below Philips Arena today.

The 57-car train had been expected to arrive Tuesday, but a wintry blend in Cincinnati and a Kentucky ice storm forced the 4,100-ton train to pick its way through the Bluegrass State, sometimes going only 10 mph.

The train even stopped to pick up stranded CSX crews, who then got an answer to the question: Where does an 8,000-pound elephant sit on the train? Anywhere it wants.

Local Ringling promoter Susan Archibald claimed she never once thought about what to do if the circus train didn't make it on time for Thursday night's Atlanta opening.

A fleet of semi trucks -- two with tigers, one with alligators -- arrived Tuesday. Some Ohio snow was left clumped onboard.

"There's something quintessentially circus about how hard they work to make that show go on," Archibald said.

The circus contracts CSX crews and locomotives to haul its freight. For stretches in Kentucky, the circus was the only thing on the tracks. "They moved us before anything else," Ringling transportation manager Joe Demike said. "They know the time sensitivity of what we do."

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Court restores Ringling Bros. abuse suit — February 4, 2003
By Michael Kirkland
UPI Legal Affairs Correspondent
Washington Politics & Policy Desk
Published 2/4/2003 12:15 PM

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court in Washington Tuesday reinstated an animal abuse suit against Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

The suit complains that Asian elephants, an endangered species, were being maltreated.

Besides restoring the suit, Tuesday's ruling sets a precedent in one of the country's most important courts, and appears to make organizations more vulnerable to such animal abuse suits if the actions are brought in part by a former insider.

The suit against Ringling Bros. was filed by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute, the Fund for Animals and Thomas Rider, a former circus employee.

The plaintiffs alleged that the Asian elephants were being mistreated in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act.

Ringling personnel, the suit claimed, "beat the elephants with sharp bull hooks, kept the elephants in chains for long periods of time and forcibly removed baby elephants from their mothers at an earlier age than they could normally be weaned in the wild."

Because of this treatment, the elephants show stress whenever they are exhibited, according to the suit, and U.S. Agriculture Department inspectors have seen lesions and rope burns on the animals.

A federal judge earlier dismissed the suit, ruling that the group of plaintiffs does not have "standing" -- they could not show an injury to themselves that could be remedied by a court.

But a federal appeals court panel reversed the judge Tuesday in regard to Rider.

Rider worked for Ringling Bros. from 1997 to 1999 tending the elephant barns and working as an elephant "handler." He told the court he formed "a strong, personal attachment to these animals" as a result.
Rider also told the court he would like to "visit the elephants, but is unwilling to do so because he would suffer 'aesthetic and emotional injury' from seeing the animals unless they are placed in a different setting or are no longer mistreated."

The judges on the appeals court panel said that was good enough for them.

"Based upon his desire to visit the elephants (which we must assume might include attending a performance of the circus), his experience with the elephants, his alleged ability to recognize the effects of mistreatment, and what an injunction would accomplish," the appeals court said, "Rider's allegations are sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss for lack of standing."

Because the rest of the plaintiffs are "seeking relief identical to what Rider seeks," the panel said it did not have to rule on the organizations' standing.

The appeals court panel then reversed the judge's order dismissing the lawsuit.

The panel is part of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which hears regulatory cases from around the country and is generally considered the second most powerful court in the United States, below the Supreme Court itself.

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Cirque du Soleil will never travel the world with performing animals — January 9, 2003
By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Forget the tigers, the elephants and the dancing bears. Cirque du Soleil will never travel the world with performing animals.

"We don't agree with the way the animals are dressed to do their tricks. We prefer to give jobs to human beings," said Pierre Parisien from the renowned Quebec troupe that has inspired a circus renaissance around the globe.

"They are animals, not performers. They should be in the jungle," the artistic director of the troupe's "Saltimbanco" show told Reuters after its London opening this week.

"We do not agree with the way they are trained and I'm not sure the place of an elephant or a tiger is to stand in a cage half of its life and perform all around the world," he said. "We will never have animals in our shows."

Cirque du Soleil was founded in 1984 by Quebecois accordion player and fire-eater Guy Laliberte as a mix of circus acts and street entertainment.

Over the past two decades, it has developed into a giant entertainment empire and given circus a new lease of life.
Cirque du Soleil now has 2,400 employees and 500 artists from more than 40 countries. Its shows have been seen in 130 cities by close to 33 million spectators. It has permanent theaters at Walt Disney World in Florida and at two
Las Vegas casinos. It is currently staging eight shows on two continents. Every weekend, 60,000 people will be watching a Cirque du Soleil show somewhere in the world.

Cirque du Soleil, whose casting scouts travel the world in search of new acrobatic talent, won three Emmy Awards for a television special on its "Dralion" show and performed for a worldwide audience at the Hollywood Oscars ceremony.

But Parisien argues that the empire has not become so vast and impersonal that everything is tightly controlled from the Montreal headquarters of Cirque du Soleil. "Not at all," he said. "Each show is unique and autonomous. We have our own identity.

"Saltimbanco," the longest-running show in the Cirque du Soleil repertoire, boasts 55 artists from 15 countries.
But from the Chinese to the Swiss, from the Spanish to the Ukrainians, the rule is the same -- English is the common language.

Children dream about leaving home to join the circus. For Parisien, it is a reality. After nine years with Cirque du Soleil, he is far from weary of his life as a circus gypsy traveling from town to town, from continent to continent.
"I am very proud to be part of this adventure -- and it still is an adventure," he said. "Circus is in a much healthier state than it was before because people need to dream and hope -- and this is what we are talking about."
REUTERS

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