The Ringling Bros. Circus is once again coming to Columbus this week, May 10th – May 13th, bringing all their cruel practices and abused animals with them.
The week starts with chained up elephants walking from the train in Grandview to the Schottenstein Center. Elephants in the wild can walk up to 50 miles per day. This entire week Ringling’s elephants will only walk a total of 6 miles– on hard concrete, with bullwhips ready if they do anything wrong. The captive walk disguised as “a parade” is only the beginning of the hellish routine repeated in every city Ringling visits. The demands of the traveling circus lifestyle suppress all the natural behaviors and needs of these incredible animals. Add in the abusive training methods used to create the “greatest show on Earth” and you have one of the most horrific forms of entertainment one could imagine. The only reason the poor animals “perform” is out of fear of physical pain from bullhooks, ropes, whips and electric prods. Do we really want to teach our children this is acceptable?
I hope the compassionate people of Columbus will research Ringling’s cruelty and choose to not spend their money on animal abuse. It’s time we stand up and declare that Ringling is NOT welcome here.
