AR-News: (US) Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus facing animal cruelty charges

[John W Kimbrell]

Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus facing animal cruelty charges
Oct 30, 2003, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031030/APN/310300590
 
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. --  Federal authorities are investigating animal cruelty
charges against the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus after a complaint from
a Spartanburg, S.C., show earlier this month.
 
The United States Department of Agriculture is investigating an
accusation that a circus employee used a bullhook to punish one of the
circus' two elephants, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
said.
 
A USDA spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that the organization's Animal
Care Unit is investigating the circus, but she could not confirm the
nature of the open investigation.
 
A family with a 4-year-old boy witnessed the employee hit the elephant in
the face and trunk earlier this month at the Spartanburg show, said
Leslie Armstrong, PETA's circus specialist.
 
"We find this reprehensible and inexcusable," she said. "We hope they
discontinue taking these elephants around the country because we know the
lifestyle is abusive."
 
A bullhook is a tool with a pointed metal head that is similar to a
fireplace poker and attached to a 2- or 3-foot handle. The handle is
usually made of wood, fiberglass, or metal.
 
PETA received several other complaints from circus-goers who said the
elephants had been hit on their backs, sides, heads and trunks, Armstrong
said.
 
Clyde Beatty-Cole marketing director Jim Maresca said that the accused
employee is no longer with the circus.
 
"We don't mistreat animals. Certainly if that does happen, after an
investigation proves that a person did do it, that person would be let
go," he said.
 
"I can tell you that that person has been let go because of the bad light
it put us in. He did admit to some inspectors that supposedly he had done
something, but it was never proven."
 
The Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus held performances in Tuscaloosa
Wednesday in the University Mall parking lot. Protesters with the Alabama
Animal Rights Fellowship, a group that consists mainly of University of
Alabama students, demonstrated against the circus near the mall entrances
Wednesday afternoon.
 
"Circus animals are forced to do tricks that are very unnatural to them.
They use bullhooks, chains and whips," said member Brian Davidson. "These
things are kept from the public."
 
Maresca said that animal inspectors in the cities where the circus
travels have given healthy reviews of animals and maintained that no
abuse takes place.
 
The circus' Asian elephants, Tina and Jewel, perform waltzes and tub
routines.
____________
 
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Article Source -- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL :
www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031030/APN/310300590
 
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