People WOULDN'T pay money to see wounded animals in a Circus. The animals must be maintained in good health if the Circus is to survive on monies taken in from the PAYING public. Only a full blown idiot would think that the Circus is going to profit by having wounded animals when healthy ones preform better. PETA has no morals whatsoever. They are professional liars and hate mongers to the core.



PETA targeting OH children in anti-circus campaign (Cleveland PD)‏

Sent: October 8, 2009 1:46:50 PM


Cleveland Plain Dealer
Activists plan pitch to pupils that circus abuses elephants
James Ewinger
Thursday, October 08, 2009
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1254990795265480.xml&coll=2

There's plenty of outrage to go around today as Cleveland school
officials prepare to blunt plans to present children with images of
what an animal-rights group says are abused circus elephants.

Angela Buford, a district spokeswoman, said extra security will be on
hand this afternoon at Marion-Sterling Elementary School to keep
activists from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals away from
students leaving the building on Central Avenue.

PETA plans to have someone costumed as an injured, bandaged elephant
handing out informational booklets about the group's claims that
Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus mistreats animals.

The circus is scheduled to be in Cleveland Oct. 21-26.

"It's particularly the younger children we're concerned about," Buford
said. "It could be particularly traumatic seeing a bloody elephant and
being told that's what circuses do."

PETA spokeswoman Ashley Byrne said that if the youngsters are
traumatized, it's by their knowledge of what the circus does to the
animals. She said the group has used the tactic off and on for several
years.

Steve Payne, a circus spokesman, said Wednesday that PETA "pulled the
same cheap stunt in Buffalo and Long Island. It's really unfortunate
that they would stoop to accosting schoolchildren with their
animal-rights message."

Payne said the circus opened the Center for Elephant Conservation in
Florida in 1995 and is committed to preserving the Asian elephant,
which the circus has used throughout its 139-year history.

PETA maintains that circus elephant handlers routinely use barbed
hooks, called bullhooks, to painfully guide the animals, sometimes
causing injuries.

Byrne said undercover video shot earlier this year clearly shows
handlers abusing the animals.

But Janice Aria, Ringling Bros. director of animal stewardship
training, said the video was "drastically edited down to three
minutes," misrepresented incidents and included clearly enhanced sound
for dramatic effect.

Aria said the elephants are not injured or abused.

Payne said that the circus is subject to inspections by local, state
and federal authorities as its three units crisscross the nation and
that it has never been found in violation of the Federal Animal
Welfare Act.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jewinger@plaind.com, 216-999-3905