As Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey prepares to "entertain" under the big top in Sacramento, the Sacramento SPCA is calling for a boycott of the circus, citing the company's routine mishandling of animals.
"The Sacramento SPCA is opposed to the use of wild animals in circuses and other shows because of the stress, cruelty and physical, social and psychological deprivations that the animals inevitably suffer," said Rick Johnson, Sacramento SPCA Executive Director. "As an organization, we feel strongly that the traveling conditions that circus animals endure is inhumane, and that alone should prohibit the use of wild animals in traveling shows of any type. We hope that Sacramento will stand up and take a stand as well by not attending the circus."
Former Ringling Bros. employees have stated that circus elephants spend hours to days at a time standing in their own waste, traveling while chained for all but four months of the year. When on chains, the circus elephants cannot move about, turn around or interact with other elephants -- even though in the wild, elephants walk for many hours each day and are extremely social animals.
Source: Press Release
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