On the afternoon of Ringling’s final two shows in New York City, dozens of activists blanketed the entrances to the Barclay’s Center to educate customers about animal cruelty in the circus.  During the protest, several patrons changed their mind about going inside.

John DiLeonardo, the president of Long Island Organizing for Nature (LION) and an organizer of the protest, showed hundreds of people entering the circus a bull hook, the weapon used by Ringling “trainers” to beat elephants into submission.

John Di Leonardo shows circus patrons a bull hook

Roberto Bonelli, a grassroots organizer with Animals Battalion, said that activists staged protests every day that Ringling performed from February 25th to March 6th.

Ringling protest organized by Animals Battalion and LION

In 2016, Ringling announced that the company will terminate the use of elephants in its circus by May and relocate all of the touring elephants to its “Conservation Center” in Florida. Despite pleas from advocacy groups worldwide, the company refuses to send its 42 elephants to a sanctuary. Instead, Ringling intends to continue breeding the elephants and using them for cancer research.

To find out how to help captive circus animals, please visit Ringling Beats Animals.

“Investigating and preventing animal rights extremism is one of our highest domestic terrorism priorities. We are committed to working with our partners to disrupt and dismantle these movements; to protect our fellow citizens; and to bring to justice those who commit crimes and terrorism in the name of animal rights.”

Footage of an FBI agent delivering these chilling remarks at a U.S. Senate hearing is just one of many historic moments included in “Activists or Terrorists?,” a half hour Participant Media documentary narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal that exposes the U.S. government’s tyrannical effort to intimidate and silence animal rights activists. Following is a short clip:

Profiled in the documentary are several activists who have been victims of government repression, including Lauren Gazzola and Andy Stepanian, who were convicted of terrorism and sent to prison for their role in undermining the animal testing behemoth Huntington Life Sciences, and Will Potter, an investigative journalist threatened by the FBI to be put on a domestic terrorist list if he didn’t agree to become an informant.

Will Potter uses a drone to captures factory farm footage before being confronted by the owners

Also profiled are activist Ryan Shapiro and attorney Jeffrey Light, who have used freedom of information laws to uncover the government’s war on the animal rights movement — a crusade backed by the multi-national corporations that exploit animals.

Andy Stepanian is arrested during a fur protest at Macy’s in the late 90s.

“Activists or Terrorists?,” which airs on Friday, February 19 at 10pm ET on Pivot TV, is one of ten episodes in a docs-series called “Truth or Power” about how private institutions and governments violate the public trust. Following is a trailer for the series:

According to the producers, the series “highlights the stories of ordinary people going to extraordinary lengths to expose large-scale injustice: from corporations receiving lucrative government contracts for dangerous private prisons, to governments using data-gathering technology to scoop up huge amounts of information about their citizens.”

Activists are not taking the New York Blood Center’s decision to abandon their surviving lab chimps lying down — unless they’re staging a “die-in” at the homes of the organization’s board members.

On February 4th, approximately 20 activists symbolically perished in front of the Upper West Side home of Michael Hodin, a wealthy businessman who, along with his colleagues at the NY Blood Center, left the group’s 66 surviving lab chimpanzees to die with no food or water on islands in Liberia after promising to provide them with lifelong care.

Activists stage die-in at the home of Michael Hodin, a New York Blood Center board member (Chimp photo: Jeff Topham)

During three increasingly disruptive protests staged at Michael Hodin’s home, residents from his building and the neighborhood displayed mixed emotions – from gratitude to grief to anger.

A pedestrian broke into tears when she learned that the NY Blood Center abandoned chimpanzees

One woman who exited and re-entered the building masked her identity by wearing a conical hat. Based on a fleeting view of her face, protesters suspected that she was Michael Hodin’s wife, Nancy.

From left to right: Howard Milstein, Nancy Hodin, woman masking her identity (Nancy Hodin?)

During the second protest at Michael Hodin’s home, held on January 28th, a few of his neighbors castigated the activists as they entered the building. “You guys are crazy,” said one resident. Protesters surmise that Hodin distributed a flyer in the building about the protests in an attempt to exonerate himself and discredit the activists.

Please join the Facebook page: New York Blood Center: Do the Right Thing to stay apprised of news and to participate in online actions to pressure NYBC executives and board members to fulfill their promise to provide lifelong care to their laboratory chimps.

If NY Blood Center Board Member Owen Garrick made one thing clear during the two day protest at his office, it’s that he desperately wants to avoid the spotlight. Garrick runs a for profit business out of the office of a charity he created. His business is not listed on the company directory in the lobby, and after the first two protests, he removed his business address from his company’s website.

Before and after — Owen Garrick removed the address of his business from his company’s website after the protests. Is that because he is running it out of the office of a charity he created?

He also removed himself from the list of employees of his own charity – the same charity where he operates his business. Before the protests, he was listed as the Treasurer and Founder. His wife continues to be listed on the charity’s website.

After the protests, Owen Garrick removed his name as an employee of the charity he created. He runs his business out of the office of this charity, but his business is not listed on the company directory in the lobby of his building.

Perhaps a desire to remain anonymous is what triggered Garrick to nervously pace the lobby of his building as activists, who staged an unannounced protest, informed his neighbors that he signed off on a plan to leave 66 chimps to die on islands with no food or water.

Owen Garrick paced back and forth as activists protested in the lobby during their first protest, which was unannounced in advance.

One day after staging the unannounced protest, a larger group of approximately 20 protesters paid a second visit to Garrick’s place of business. This time, security was prepared and locked the door to the building — a major inconvenience to the hundreds of people who were coming and going during the rainy lunch hour rush.

https://youtu.be/gOH-8LxTn_8

While some people were angry about getting wet, others were grateful that people were willing to stand in the rain to be a voice for the chimps abandoned by Owen Garrick and his colleagues on the New York Blood Center’s Board of Trustees. Activists plan a third protest in the coming weeks.

During lunch hour, hundreds of people who work in Owen Garrick’s building learned that he abandoned chimpanzees with no food or water.

After conducting experiments on several hundred chimpanzees for 30 years at a laboratory in Liberia, the NY Blood Center promised to provide the survivors with lifelong care. In May, 2015, the NY Times reported that the blood center decided to walk away from its $25,000 monthly obligation, arguing that the government of Liberia and animal advocacy groups should pay for the long-term care of the chimps. To date, NYBC has earned an estimated $500 million in royalties off of the research conducted on the chimps.

Please join the Facebook page: New York Blood Center: Do the Right Thing to stay apprised of news and to participate in online actions to pressure NYBC executives and board members to fulfill their promise to provide lifelong care to their laboratory chimps.

It was business as usual at the annual bull riding rodeo in NYC, with patrons greeting protesters with obscene gestures; accusing them of wearing leather shoes; and promising to eat “a juicy steak” after the show.

For the past decade, Professional Bull Riders (PBR) has, as a part of its national tour, staged a three day rodeo at Madison Square Garden in New York City. And, each year, animal rights activists have  protested at the entrance.

Animal rights activists stage three days of protests (Jan 15 – 17) at the bull riding rodeo at Madison Square Garden

While the majority of bull riding patrons who stopped to engage with the protesters during the three days of protests were hostile and defensive, a few attempted to convince them that the bulls are treated with great care because they earn a living for the riders. Activists in NYC say they have heard that before, as that is the same argument used by the horse-drawn carriage operators who drive their horses through the congested streets of midtown Manhattan.

Bull riders use weapons and drugs to make the animals buck

Learn more about bull riding cruelty from the organization leading the fight to expose it —  SHARK (Showing Animals Respect & Kindness)