Thursday, February 01, 2007

The Buffalo News: Cruelty alleged in the big top

Tweet! Whistleblower!:

A former employee of the nation's largest traveling circus Tuesday claimed she witnessed vicious acts of animal cruelty and urged the Common Council to ban events in Buffalo that include exotic animal acts.

"The abuse was not once in a while, it occurred every day," Archele Hundley told lawmakers. "The elephants, horses and camels were hit, punched, beaten and whipped by everyone from the head of animal care down to inexperienced animal handlers hired out of homeless shelters."

The West Virginia woman claimed handlers are taught to keep the animals afraid.

Ringling Brothers denies the claims, of course, and attempted to cast doubts on Hundley's testimony. But she countered with

"When I voiced concerns to Ringling management about the animal abuse, I was either ignored or told, "If you don't like it, pack your bags,' " she insisted.

The Council's Legislation Committee held the hearing after advocates lobbied for a law that would make Buffalo off-limits to circuses that use lions, elephants and other exotic animals. More than 20 municipalities across the nation already have imposed such bans, including Hollywood, Fla.

North Council Member Joseph Golombek Jr. will likely sponsor legislation proposing such a ban in Buffalo, and Majority Leader Dominic J. Bonifacio Jr. of the Niagara District said he might co-sponsor the bill.

The circus' vice president of government relations and animal policy (interesting title, no?) replies with the limp and exploitive chestnut, "Circuses help to reinforce the role that people play as caretakers of animals." In other words, circuses reinforce a paradigm that animals are ours to do with as we please... Nice try, bub!

The education argument was dismissed by Jennifer Radecki of Animal Advocates of Western New York. She said exhibiting elephants "dressed up and performing silly tricks" contributes nothing to people's appreciation for animals.

Now we're talking. If anything, this treatment of animals (irrespective of the inherent cruelty) diminishes the audience's respect and appreciation for these magnificent beings, and animal use in circuses ought to be abolished on those grounds alone.

Labels: animal cruelty, circus