PETA to Recruit Whistleblowers at Ringling Clown Tryouts

Group Will Offer Potential Employees $5,000 for Evidence Leading to the Conviction of Elephant Beaters

For Immediate Release:
August 28, 2012

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Chicago -- Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be holding clown auditions in Chicago on Wednesday, and PETA plans to be there—also to recruit clowns. PETA members will hand the prospective employees whistleblower-recruitment leaflets in the hope that they will report instances of elephant beatings and other acts of animal abuse for which Ringling is notorious. In return, PETA will pay whistleblowers $5,000 for evidence that leads to the conviction of a guilty party. Ringling trains, disciplines, and punishes elephants and other animals using electric prods, whips, chains, and bullhooks—weapons that resemble a fireplace poker with a sharp metal hook.

When:   Wednesday, August 29, 12 noon

Where:  Outside the Joffrey Ballet School dance studios, 10 E. Randolph St. (near the intersection with N. State Street), Chicago

In one of several incidents involving whistleblowers, a former Ringling employee gave PETA compelling photos that expose how baby elephants used by Ringling are stretched out, slammed to the ground, gouged with bullhooks, and shocked with electric prods. Ringling recently paid the largest fine in circus history—$270,000—for violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

"PETA knows that Ringling employees must witness animal abuse on a regular basis," says PETA Associate Director of Campaigns Lindsay Rajt. "Now we're giving them the opportunity and incentive to help put an end to it."

For more information, please visit PETA's website RinglingBeatsAnimals.com.