Retire Your Elephants Now E petition 178,000 so far

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https://www.change.org/p/tell-carson-barnes-circus-to-retire-their-elephants-now?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=292756&alert_id=vdMALKmPYr_kjCB80yF5KjjXcz7ic4wXo5oh6l0fEzUGVi%2FPV6pBBhmV5imDEi13nPpw3pP9wxy



Circuses treat elephants with unbelievable cruelty. From bullhooks to electric shocks, their practices are nothing less than an outrage. That’s why I was ecstatic to hear that Ringling Bros. recently announced that it will stop using elephants in its circus by 2018! But the fight isn’t over until more circuses make the same decision. Help us help more elephants by telling Carson & Barnes Circus that it’s time to retire their elephants to a sanctuary.

Carson & Barnes is one of the biggest circuses in the United States with more than 30,000 performances to date, which makes their track record of mistreating animals so appalling. According to a PETA investigation, their animal care director was videotaped “viciously attacking elephants with a bullhook, shocking elephants with an electric prod, and instructing trainers to embed sharp, metal hooks into the elephants’ flesh until [they] screamed in pain.”

This is unacceptable. That's why I started this petition calling on Carson & Barnes Circus to permanently stop using elephants and to turn them over to an elephant sanctuary.

The facts are truly horrifying. In one case, an elephant handler was caught striking an elephant with an object he was swinging like a baseball bat. There’s even video evidence of a Carson & Barnes director training employees to strike their elephants with such force that it makes them scream. He advises them to sink bullhooks into the elephants’ skin and twist until the animals cry out. This same footage shows a handler using a blowtorch on an elephant’s skin.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited Carson & Barnes for failure to provide veterinary care and minimum space. They’ve even failed to provide shelter from the elements, adequate ventilation, and clean water. The list of violations of the Animal Welfare Act by this circus is endless! Go to circuses.com for a complete list of U.S.D.A. violations.

This abuse needs to stop immediately. The president of Ringling’s parent company said consumers have had “a mood shift where they may not want to see elephants transported from city to city.” When Ringling Bros. decided to finally pay attention to compassionate voices, it sent shockwaves across the circus industry. If a prominent circus like Ringling Bros. knows the public opposes treating intelligent, magnificent elephants as nothing more than a means to be entertained, we can certainly make Carson & Barnes see the writing on the wall.

Please sign my petition to free elephants from a miserable life in chains for the Carson & Barnes circus.
LETTER TO
Carson & Barnes Circus
Barbara Miller Byrd, co-owner
Geary Byrd, co-owner
Please retire all your elephants to a sanctuary immediately. Such intelligent, sensitive animals don’t deserve to be chained and abused for the sake of entertainment. If Ringling Bros can make this decision, Carson & Barnes Circus should to.
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