World Spirit Reflections and Updates

So, you took your kids to the circus. Do you think they'd enjoy knowing how such large, proud beasts as elephants submit to such silly tricks for our entertainment? Do you think they'd enjoy knowing how they're beaten into submission?

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is just beginning its 2007 tour across North America. The circus's cruelty to animals is indisputable.

Two PETA investigators tracked Ringling at every stop of its 2006 tour. Out of public view, they documented on videotape that Ringling employees were viciously hitting elephants and striking them with bullhooks until the animals bled and cried out—in addition to many other acts of cruelty.

According to eyewitness accounts, Ringling's head elephant trainer savagely beat an elephant with a bullhook behind her ear, on her leg, and on her back. The trainer swung the bullhook with such force that its point was embedded inside the elephant's ear canal.

The abuses that PETA has uncovered have led to multiple open investigations of Ringling by the U.S. government and have cost the circus a national tour sponsor. PETA's work has left "the greatest show on Earth" with dwindling attendance numbers.

But Ringling still refuses to retire its abusive animal acts. I am writing to you today to ask for your help pressuring Ringling and all companies that use animals for "entertainment" to stop their abusive practices.

For animals, another Ringling tour means another year of beatings and long days chained or confined to cramped, poorly ventilated boxcars.

If we work together, we can hold Ringling accountable for its cruelty to animals. But we need your support. Please make a donation today to support our campaign to get live animals out of circuses and all other forms of entertainment. There is nothing entertaining about animal abuse!

Can I count on your support to help stop Ringling's abuse in the name of family entertainment? I sincerely hope that the answer is yes. You and I are the only hope that these animals have.

For all animals,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. Your support will help PETA expose the suffering of animals used by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and get animals out of entertainment acts. Please stand with us for the animals' sake by supporting our vital work with as generous a tax-deductible donation as you can afford. Thank you.