The cruelest show on earth

They're baaaaack: the “Baby Beaters,” a.k.a. Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Baby beaters? Yes, for sure. You wouldn't want to be a baby elephant within range of this crowd.

It’s horrible enough that adult elephants and other wild animals are forced to exist in a circus setting, far removed from anything like natural habitat . . . to travel around the country in train cars for most of the year, through extremes of climate . . . march in demeaning parades when the circus comes to town . . . and perform “tricks” alien to them in real life for just two reasons: human enjoyment and circus profit.

But babies too?

Nothing positive can be said about RBandB&B where animals are concerned, despite or especially because of the phony website claims about taking care of performing Asian elephants and conserving the species at a Florida site.

Then there’s the testimony from former circus employees about animal cruelty; the law suits against RBandB&B; the tear-inducing pictures of baby elephants being tortured into learning “tricks” and following commands (http://circuses.com/bullhooks.asp). Already cruelly torn from their mothers (in the wild, they stay together), the elephant babies are turned into involuntary performers.

Captive, sad, lonely and debased for their lifetimes, all so people can watch them do dangerous, uncomfortable tricks. It is so wrong. The circus must be “the cruelest show on earth.”
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