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PETA Pressures Groupon and Amazon to Stop Promoting Circuses & Zoos

May 20, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

As a stockholder in Groupon and Amazon, PETA has employed “shareholder activism” to pressure these and other companies to “stop promoting companies [like circuses and zoos] that abuse and neglect animals” While Groupon has rejected these efforts, describing itself as “content neutral,” Amazon is remaining flexible. In response to accusations of “bullying” by the right-wing National Center for Public Policy Research, PETA says that it is merely pressuring Groupon to “stick to its own policy of not promoting animal exhibitors that have violated the Animal Welfare Act in the past two years.” PETA has filed a Federal Trade Commission complaint, claiming that Groupon is lying to its customers.”

Photo Credit: Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune

Photo Credit: Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune

News & Opinion

Animals used in circuses, like elephants and big cats, are deprived of the chance to do anything that comes naturally to them and are beaten into submission in order to perform. In addition, they are forced to travel in small boxcars on trains for days at a time traveling between cities. By buying small amounts of stock in companies like Groupon that partner with circuses, PETA can use its seat at the table to expose the cruelty and attempt to end the partnerships. If you’re not in a position to buy stock and cause a stir at shareholder meetings, then join your local animal rights group(s) to protest the circus when it comes to your town. To learn more about animal cruelty in circuses, please visit PETA’s circus webite, Ringling Beats Animals.


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Ringling Bros. Demands $25 million from Animal Rights Groups

April 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

Ringling Bros. has gone to court requesting that three animal rights groups that unsuccessfully sued them should pay the $25 million in legal fees the company alleges to have spent defending themselves. According to the National Law Journal, “the fee request is one of the largest ever” in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. Lawyers for the Fund for Animals, Animal Welfare Trust and Born Free USA “accused Feld’s legal team of inflating bills, failing to ‘exercise sound billing judgment,’ and overstaffing.”

Ringling Bros

Ringling Bros

News & Opinion

Through the use of weapons, Ringling Bros. terrifies wild animals into submission; we cannot allow them to use lawsuits and other forms of intimidation to scare us too. If litigation against the circus isn’t successful, then we must continue to push for legislation that would ban the use of wild animals in circuses to and to protest them at every stop, educating customers about why using animals in circuses is inhumane On March 21st, One Green Planet published an article on 5 ways you can help end the use of animals in circuses.


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Circus Executive Charged with Choking Protester

April 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

Lionel Rowe, the chairman of the Shrine Circus who was caught on video (see below) choking a peaceful protester in Ottawa, Canada, has been charged with assault. The victim, Len Goldberg, is a member of the Ottawa Animal Defense League.

News & Opinion

Several studies have drawn links between the abuse of animals and violence against people, as shown in the above video. It should therefore come as no surprise that a circus executive who uses weapons to beat wild animals into submission would attack a protester. Mr. Rowe, the man who attacked Mr. Goldberg, might have experienced temporary satisfaction choking an activist, but his criminal record will most likely be permanent. In addition to getting himself in trouble with the law, Mr. Rowe has probably attracted more activists to protest his barbaric circus. On March 21st, One Green Planet published an article on 5 ways you can help end the use of animals in circuses.


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Did NYC Just Ban Wild Animals in Circuses?

March 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

The Daily News reported that UniverSoul Circus is suing New York City for refusing to allow their elephants and tigers from performing. The Circus lawyers say that, “the city made new rules this year requiring the circus to get a permit to use exotic animals, then refused to grant the permit on the grounds that the tigers were kept in cages deemed too small and the elephants had not passed a tuberculosis test.”

Photo source: NY Daily News

Photo source: NY Daily News

News & Opinion

Activists in NYC have been lobbying City Council members for years to support a bill banning the use of wild animals in circuses, but the bill never came out of committee for a vote. When he was a City Council Member, Mayor Bill de Blasio, who took office in January 2014, was a co-sponsor of that bill. Did he decide circumvent the cumbersome legislative route by having the Department of Health (DOH), which reports to him, refuse to grant animal permits to the circus? The Mayor’s office and the DOH aren’t speaking publicly about the lawsuit, so the public does not yet know the backstory. What we do know is that the local activist community will do whatever we can to help the City defend its position so that no circuses can use and abuse wild animals in NYC. Please contact the Mayor’s office to thank him for taking this historic step to outlaw the exceptionally cruel use of wild animals in circuses.


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Three Circus Elephants Escape

March 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

Three elephants temporarily escaped from a circus in St. Louis, damaging cars in the parking lot.

Circus elephants escape

Circus elephants escape

News & Opinion

While the eye-witnesses who spoke to reporters used the word “escape” to describe the incident, none conveyed an understanding that these elephants are prisoners in the first place, kidnapped from their mothers, chained for most of their lives and deprived of the ability to do anything that comes naturally to them. While the circus spokespeople say that these elephants “are now resting comfortably in their compound,” we know that their “trainers” will punish them by beating them with bullhooks, the weapons used to scare elephants into submission. The use of bullhooks was recently outlawed in Los Angeles. In the absence of bullhooks, elephants would trample their trainers. Ringling Brothers can therefore no longer travel to Los Angeles. On March 21st, One Green Planet published an article on 5 ways you can help end the use of animals in circuses.


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