Two-time Tony winner and Oscar nominee Viola Davis has sent a letter to state legislators in Rhode Island urging them to support proposed legislation to prevent elephants traveling with circuses from enduring bullhook abuse and long periods of chaining. Davis was raised in Central Falls, Rhode Island, and attended Rhode Island College.

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Smallest State Tackles a Huge Problem

The star of the hotly anticipated Ender's Game hopes the bill will bring about an endgame for the well-documented elephant abuse by circuses that travel within her home state, including Ringling Bros., Cole Bros., and Piccadilly Circus. 

Davis joins Alec Baldwin, Jada Pinkett Smith, Demi Moore, Olivia Munn, and many others—both famous and not so famous—who have spoken out against the use of bullhooks and other practices that cause elephants and other animals forced to travel with circuses to endure great physical and emotional damage.

What You Can Do

If you live in Rhode Island, join Viola Davis in asking your state legislators to support the ban on bullhooks and the chaining of elephants. But no matter where you reside, please do your part to end circus cruelty. 

As one of the stars of the CW's new superhero hit, Arrow, Annie Ilonzeh knows a thing or two about good vs. evil. And she's being super to elephants by letting everyone know exactly which side circuses fall on:

Check out the exclusive video that Annie shot for PETA to learn more about the two animals who captured her heart as well as why she thinks everyone should be heroic to elephants by boycotting the circus: 

Catch Annie on Arrow Wednesdays on the CW to get your superhero fix, and join her in protesting cruelty to animals used by circuses. 

PETA is calling for an investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) inspector general following the departure of the agency's former deputy general counsel, Kenneth Vail—the man who was tasked with enforcing animal protection regulations for the USDA and who has now taken a job with the Ringling Bros. circus, which is counted among the most egregious animal abusers in the country.

Yeah, that doesn't seem shady at all, does it?

Whose Interests Was He Serving? Not Animals'

Before officially becoming Ringling's paid protector, Vail served as the USDA's lead legal counsel for animal welfare matters. Yet he repeatedly failed to take enforcement action against Ringling Bros.—despite a mountain of proof provided by PETA that exposed flagrant animal abuse and the concealment of evidence and even when the USDA's own Investigative and Enforcement Services (IES) recommended seeking penalties.

Vail's failures to seek enforcement against Ringling are many, including these:

• Ignoring IES' advice to pursue fines against Ringling, Vail took no action against Ringling after it allowed Clyde, a 2-year-old lion, to bake to death in a boxcar as the circus traveled through the Mojave Desert on a scorching July day.
• Ringling killed Riccardo, an 8-month-old infant elephant, after he slipped from a pedestal onto which he'd been forced using ropes and a bullhook, breaking both hind legs, during a training exercise. Vail disregarded IES' recommendation that his office seek a penalty for blatant violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), taking no enforcement action at all.
• When Ringling's head of elephant training revealed in federal court that the circus repeatedly lied to the USDA about Riccardo's death—denying that Riccardo was being trained and claiming that he was just playing when he fell—Vail failed to reopen Riccardo's case or pursue any action against Ringling.
• Vail also declined to follow IES' recommendation to seek a fine—or, indeed, to pursue action of any sort—against Ringling after a handler was caught on tape violently beating a young elephant with a bullhook while she was chained by two legs.

Now Hiring: Must Have Influence, No Principles

Unsurprisingly, Ringling, a company that abuses and has killed animals, is notorious for its complete lack of scruples when it comes to making sure that it gets its way, including procuring the services of well-connected Washington insiders to sway their former colleagues and hiring an ex-CIA agent to intimidate critics and spy on and steal from PETA.

It's not surprising that Ringling would like Vail, who certainly seems to have given the circus special treatment for years during his government tenure. But even for such a shameless and unscrupulous enterprise as Ringling, the cozy deal to formally hire Vail to be the circus's "Animal Welfare Act compliance officer" raises the specter of impropriety. That's why PETA is urging the USDA's inspector general to investigate whether Vail has violated (or is currently violating) any federal conflict-of-interest laws.

As a result of PETA's relentless pressure on the USDA to take action in behalf of these animals, Ringling was recently forced to pay the largest penalty for AWA violations in circus history—after Vail left the USDA. While this was an important step, the government must now take action to confiscate the arthritic elephants forced by Ringling to travel up to 50 weeks a year in filthy, poorly ventilated boxcars and to perform painful, unnatural tricks.

What You Can Do

Never buy a ticket for Ringling Bros. or any other circus that uses animals, and please join PETA in asking the USDA to confiscate the lame elephants suffering under Ringling's domination immediately.

PETA has asked the Los Angeles Mayor's Office to immediately release records related to the city's decision to allow the Ringling Bros. circus to force ailing elephants to perform during its recent stint at the Staples Center despite expert advice to the contrary and despite apparently breaching the city's own laws.

Sound Advice

When Ringling came to L.A. this summer, the city brought in an independent elephant expert to determine whether the elephants used by the troupe were fit to perform. Dr. Philip Ensley—associate veterinarian for the Zoological Society of San Diego for 29 years—issued a critical report after inspecting the elephants.

He advised, among other things, that two of Ringling's elephants "should be removed from performing" since "Karen and most likely Nichole as well, suffer from arthritis, which results in chronic pain, impaired limb function, and are in effect crippled" and that five other elephants should be removed from performing if Ringling failed to improve their standard of care because of their histories of foot, toenail, and musculoskeletal issues, including at least one elephant who "suffers from … ongoing chronic foot problems."

Dr. Ensley concluded his report by noting that the inspected elephants "suffer unneeded existing detrimental medical conditions and should not participate in forced, non species-typical behaviors that are repetitive rigorous physical activities"—in other words, typical circus routines—"under the current standard of care and living conditions."

Questionable Decisions

Los Angeles law prohibits the city from issuing a permit to any circus with animals unless it has first conducted an investigation and determined "that animals will not be subject to needless suffering, unnecessary cruelty or abuse" and that the circus will not violate any state or local law. Los Angeles regulations also prohibit keeping crippled or painfully diseased animals in the city.

What's more, California law requires that animals who are "unfit for labor" are not to be used in any way, including in performances, and prohibits subjecting any animal to needless suffering. But despite these clear guidelines and Dr. Ensley's unequivocal findings, the city issued a permit to Ringling and allowed it to illegally force these suffering, unfit, crippled elephants to perform.

Less Than Full Disclosure

In an effort to determine why this decision was made, PETA submitted a public records request to the Mayor's Office. After delaying a response, the office provided some records but withheld an undisclosed number of records. PETA believes that the withholding of at least some of these records may have been unlawful since the reasons given for not releasing the records don't apply when the public interest favors disclosure.

The reasons for approving a permit for Ringling to use elephants—whom the city knew from its own expert to be unfit and suffering from chronic pain—against city law are clearly of interest to the public, especially at a time when the Los Angeles City Council is considering legislation to protect elephants used in circuses. This information is also of interest to PETA, whose campaigners are working nonstop to end Ringling's abuse and exploitation of animals, so the group has demanded the release of the improperly withheld records and will consider taking legal action if denied.

What You Can Do

Even animal-protection laws as seemingly clear as Los Angeles' don't always do the job. Please start a legislative effort to completely ban circuses and other traveling exhibits in your town or county. And if a circus with animals is scheduled to perform in your town, make sure that you're ready.

Update: PETA has just received word that following its submission of evidence of this cruel beating to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency's Investigative and Enforcement Services has opened a formal investigation into the matter.

Originally posted June 15:

A security guard has reported that an animal attendant with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus repeatedly beat a chained elephant with a bullhook at the World Arena in Colorado Springs shortly after midnight on June 10. A sworn cruelty complaint has now been filed with the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region.

'Elephants Never Forget' Cruelty

The whistleblower, while working as a guard at the arena, saw a Ringling employee strike an elephant on her leg "with full force" at least six times in a manner that the whistleblower describes as "violent," "excessive," "angry," and "without warning." The attendant continued striking the elephant, who was chained by two legs, even after she had moved out of his way.

The guard also noted that the large cats traveling with Ringling were always confined to their cages unless they were performing, that he did not see any of the animals provided with regular access to water, and that he was told that the circus does not travel with a veterinarian.

'Animal Care' Requires Actual Care

Last year, Ringling paid a $270,000 fine to settle charges brought by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but the complaints keep coming in.  

The man who came forward is a trained veterinary assistant who had been in the process of filling out a job application to work in an animal-care capacity for Ringling. After witnessing Ringling's mistreatment of the animals, he immediately closed his Ringling employment application and contacted PETA.

What You Can Do

Please take a moment to e-mail the Humane Society of the Pike's Peak region and urge them to take swift enforcement action against this blatant cruelty.

The Newsroom star and staunch anti-circus activist Olivia Munn knows that in circuses, it's animals who pay the price, so she's asking Groupon to stop promoting cruelty with its discounted circus tickets. Groupon is selling out animals who are forcibly taken away from their mothers, have their spirits broken, are kept in chains, and are threatened with beatings if they don't perform night after night.

Photo: Hama Sanders/www.hamasanders.com Hair: Steven Lake for Exclusive Artists Makeup: Julie Cuomo Wardrobe: April Steiner for Exclusive Artists Elephant background: (c) iStockphoto.com/Bruno Buongiorno Nardelli

To add insult to cruelty, Groupon claims to promote only circuses with clean inspection reports, but the company clearly isn't doing its homework. In fact, most of the circuses that Groupon promotes have received multiple citations for violations of even the minimum protections of the Animal Welfare Act.

In her letter, Olivia asked Groupon CEO Andrew Mason to use his company's position as a mass retailer to influence positive change for animals who are abused by circuses:

Join Olivia in asking Groupon to give animals the "deal of the day" by halting promotions of cruel circuses.

Groupon claims it's all about deals, but it's giving animals and consumers a raw one. The online discounter has been offering tickets to circus performances, claiming to promote only circuses with "clean [U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)] and public record inspection reports from at least the past 2 years." But if Groupon were actually checking out the circuses it hawks tickets for, it would know that most of them have received numerous citations during the past two years from the USDA for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. PETA has written to Groupon demanding that the company stop misleading customers:

Just a few of the incidents that Groupon is content to overlook include the following:

• An elephant exhibitor for Piccadilly Circus was arrested in May on a warrant related to cruelty-to-animals charges.
• Exhibitors contracted by UniverSoul Circus received an Official Warning for failing to give veterinary care to elephants suffering from foot ailments—the number one reason why captive elephants must be euthanized.
• Jorje and Louann Barreda were cited by the USDA for repeatedly failing to provide four elephants with adequate foot care.

Tell Groupon to give animals a fair deal and stop promoting abusive circuses to make a quick buck.

Imagine you're cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway, ragtop down, enjoying the Golden State sunshine. You flip on the radio and hear, "This next dedication goes out to Ringling: 'Shut Down' by the Beach Boycotts!"

This little mental vacation was prompted by news that a coalition of California humane societies has joined PETA in calling for a boycott of the cruel Ringling Bros. circus. As the coalition's announcement explains:

PETA has worked with the Marin Humane Society, one of the worthy organizations behind this coalition effort, to train humane officers in inspecting elephants used by circuses—and clearly, what they've seen has made an impression!

What You Can Do

Please show this to your local humane society or SPCA director and encourage him or her to join the growing ranks of animal protection groups that urge people to boycott Ringling. Please make sure that groups in your area have the facts, and ask them to get on board.

Update: 

At Atlanta's City Hall, B-52s singer Fred Schneider, surrounded by City Councilmember Felicia Moore and other PETA supporters, called on the City Council to pass a total ban on bullhooks. "How can we do this to elephants?" he asked. "I can't imagine doing this to our cats, dogs, or other pets we love." Moore commented that "Atlanta is better than this" and added that she and fellow Councilmember Natalyn Mosby Archibong will continue to push for the full ban.

Photo: Anna Ware

Photo: Anna Ware

The following was originally published on June 26th.

PETA has sent an urgent letter to the Atlanta City Council exhorting it to pass an ordinance proposed by Councilmembers Felicia Moore and Natalyn Archibong that would ban all bullhook use in the city. The new measure would strengthen recently passed legislation that is unenforceable and will do nothing to protect elephants used in circuses from abuse.

Excessive Burden of Proof

The ordinance passed on June 18 bans the use of bullhooks only when a witness comes forward to attest that they were used to "punish" or "discipline" an elephant and that the specific incident resulted in the elephant's skin being observably broken, scarred, or otherwise damaged—an almost impossible task given that handlers commonly strike elephants in places that hide the wounds, such as behind the ears or under the chin.

Nor do all bullhook beatings break the skin, even when they cause serious injuries—and when they do cause bleeding, circuses apply a gray powder called "Wonder Dust" to cover up any wounds since it blends in with elephants' skin.

Along with the letter, PETA sent videotapes showing several incidents in which elephants were beaten with bullhooks in California, which has a law that's virtually identical to Atlanta's. In none of these instances was the perpetrator prosecuted.

What You Can Do

California's failed elephant-protection law proves that as long as circus elephant handlers have bullhooks, they're going to beat elephants with them. Please join PETA in making it clear to the Atlanta City Council that a total ban on bullhooks is the only way to stop circuses from beating elephants. (Please keep all correspondence polite.)

With support from PETA and local PETA members and hard work by local animal rights group Alliance for Animals, which initiated the proposal, the Dane County, Wisconsin, Board of Supervisors has enacted a ban on elephant performances at all county-owned facilities.

James Preston|cc by 2.0

PETA members and members of local animal rights group Alliance for Animals had written to and called the local board to ask for the ban, attended supervisors' meetings to speak in favor of it, and garnered support from the community. It took only six months for the efforts to pay off.

The supervisor who proposed the ban, Al Matano, stated:

For help getting a similar ban passed in your community, contact PETA's Action Team.