Dear Editor,
On behalf of PETA and our more than two million members and
supporters, we are writing about the recent article by Camille
Bounds promoting the Ringling Bros. and Barnum
&
amp; Bailey Circus. We hope that you will review your
newspaper’s position about covering the circus and agree that any
coverage should include the perspective of the animal welfare
community.
Shame on paper for allowing a column on Ringling Bros. Circus
Dear Editor,
On behalf of PETA and our more than two million members and supporters, we are writing about the recent article by Camille Bounds promoting the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. We hope that you will review your newspaper’s position about covering the circus and agree that any coverage should include the perspective of the animal welfare community.
The use of animals in circuses is now recognized by many as controversial and inhumane. As a news organization, covering the circus without including opposing viewpoints is improper. Your readers are entitled to a fair and balanced report on this controversial issue. Ringling’s history of animal abuse and neglect has been widely documented by independent sources, and readers need to consider this history if they are going to make informed decisions about purchasing circus tickets.
The following are a few examples of Ringling’s failure to properly care for its animals: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has multiple open investigations into Ringling. The circus has been cited for causing unnecessary trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm, and discomfort to animals; failing to keep proper veterinary records; and failing to provide animals with veterinary care, exercise, and sufficient space.
Since 1992, at least 25 elephants used by Ringling have died. Ringling’s captive-breeding program serves to stock replacement elephant “inventory” and is of no benefit to the species in the wild. Ironically, the vast majority of Ringling’s elephants were captured in the wild.
In 1999, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services quarantined Ringling’s Williston, Fla., facility when elephants there tested positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB), a human strain of the deadly disease that can be spread from elephant to human, human to human, and human to elephant.
A Ringling trainer shot a caged Bengal tiger to death. In addition, a 2-year-old lion died of apparent heat exhaustion in a poorly ventilated boxcar while traveling across the Mojave Desert, and two more big cats were injured when trying to escape from an overheated cage. Ringling objected to a federal animal-handling proposal that would have restricted the use of bullhooks, hot shots (a handheld device that delivers an electrical shock), shock collars, and shocking belts. Ringling helped defeat legislation in California that would have limited the number of hours per day that elephants could be chained.
According to former Ringling employees, horses are routinely jabbed with pitchforks and given “lip twists,” a sadistic way to inflict pain. Horses are not protected under the Animal Welfare Act.
Kristie Phelps, Asst. Director Animals in Entertainment Campaign
How one district played the dropout high school numbers game
Dear Editor,
We at Gilroy High were also amazed at the East Side’s dropout rate (less than 7 percent at the time), so we went to visit. One of our classified staff figured out the system. Say a student missed six straight days. The home would receive a letter indicating that if the school district didn’t hear from someone, somehow, by such a date, the student would be transferred to the continuation school. Imagine the number of transfers, and, technically, these students were not dropouts.
So all of East Side’s high schools were sending these students to one continuation high school. I called and asked how in the world they (the continuation school) could handle it.
The response: “We didn’t.”
Roger Anderson, Gilroy
Is there really a point to keeping the NATO Alliance intact?
Dear Editor,
NATO was formed to stop Russian Communism. Since 1989, what has been NATO’s purpose?
On both sides, a “million” careful decisions could bring Russia’s careful entry (equal and law-abiding) into the European Union.
Bruce Sweeney, Gilroy
