Fwd: Fw: Circus Wars

[Guest guest]

-- Niki O'Leary <nikiol wrote:

> Mon, 26 Nov 2001 23:29:41 -0000

> Fw: Circus Wars

>

> another nastie!!!

>

>

> > Please vote against animals in circuses (right side of the page)

> >

> > http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/1064804/detail.html

> >

> > We already know that animal rights groups will go to great lengths to

> > get evidence showing circuses abusing animals.

> >

> > But only now is it becoming clear how far the circus will go in a

> > counterattack.

> >

> > Circus employees beating, chaining and teasing one of the most

> majestic

> > creatures on Earth -- the elephant -- are painful images to watch.

> >

> > And they are images that are routinely supplied to the media by animal

> > rights activists, such as groups like the People for the Ethical

> > Treatment of Animals.

> >

> > " Here you have the most despicable form of animal cruelty going on for

> > no other reason than to turn a buck, make a profit -- that's what the

> > circus is. And we're devoted to stopping it, " said Joe Taksel of PETA.

> >

> > One of the ways they try to stop it is to cultivate sympathetic circus

> > employees who agree to get video in places you wouldn't normally see

> --

> > like inside a cramped train car or the basement of an arena.

> >

> > They are circus spies. And Team 4 has discovered that the trend cuts

> > both ways.

> >

> > " I tried to make it look like I was friendly with some of them at some

> > point, but at the same time, I was gathering information, " former

> circus

> > spy Steve Kendall said.

> >

> > For 10 years, Steve Kendall of Scott Township, Pa., spied on animal

> > rights groups for Ringling Brothers and other circuses.

> >

> > He is now writing a tell-all book.

> >

> > Kendall: " I have a number of individuals who are directly inside

> animal

> > rights groups. They may be out there protesting. "

> >

> > Parsons: " You're talking about double agents? "

> >

> > Kendall: " Uh, they are people I obviously have to pay to gather

> > information from. "

> >

> > Parsons: " Wait a minute, you pay people to infiltrate animal activist

> > groups? "

> >

> > Kendall: " Yes, I have. "

> >

> > Kendall claims Ringling Brothers circus actually created an espionage

> > unit. He's not exaggerating. An overseer of that unit was Clair E.

> > George, an ex-CIA spymaster who was convicted in the Iran-Contra

> scandal

> > of the 1980s.

> >

> > A sworn affadavit from George appears in a lawsuit against Ringling

> > filed by a former company executive vice president. George testifies

> > that one of his jobs at Ringling was " to review ... surveillance of,

> and

> > efforts to counter, the activities of various animal rights groups. "

> >

> > One of those animal rights groups is the ASPCA, which recently filed a

> > lawsuit against Ringling, alleging that the circus abuses its

> elephants.

> >

> > Former Ringling elephant caretaker Tom Rider joined in filing that

> > lawsuit.

> >

> > " I would still be at Ringling today if it wasn't for the way they

> > treated their elephants, " Rider said.

> >

> > Rider said he quit the circus in 1999 because he saw abuse every day,

> > such as a handler hitting an elephant with a bullhook in San

> Francisco's

> > Cow Palace.

> >

> > The bullhook is a pole with a hook on the end of it. The circus

> industry

> > says that it's used only as a tool to guide elephants. But Rider said

> he

> > witnessed more than guiding.

> >

> > " And they take these hooks and they give them to somebody with no

> > experience, they start dominating, " Rider said. " They think, 'Oh, this

> > is a 10,000-pound animal, I'm gonna hit it, I'm gonna hook it.' "

> >

> > Rider said he was not an animal rights spy when he worked in the

> circus,

> > but now that he's out, he follows Ringling around the country to speak

> > out against elephant abuse. He said his expenses are paid for by the

> > ASPCA.

> >

> > Rider came to Pittsburgh armed with a document -- a criminal summons

> > filed in California last summer against famed Ringling elephant

> handler

> > Mark Oliver Gaebel. The charge: elephant abuse.

> >

> > Rider urged Team 4 to watch the Ringling Brothers train arrive in

> > Pittsburgh earlier this week. We did. Sure enough, we saw a handler

> > using his bullhook aggressively, hitting an elephant in the trunk,

> then

> > the leg.

> >

> > He's the same handler who got a bullhook caught in an elephant's mouth

> > in Tulsa, Okla., last June.

> >

> > " That aggressiveness of taking the bullhook and jerking it real hard,

> > that sinks the bullhook into the skin, which causes pain to an

> > elephant, " Rider said.

> >

> > Team 4 asked Ringling about this. They said what Team 4 investigators

> > saw doesn't happen.

> >

> > " We don't do that. It's not part of our practice. Our practice is to

> > just use it as a positive reinforcement to show tham and to help guide

> > them to do the activities that we need them to do, " Ringling elephant

> > trainer Brian Cristiani said.

> >

> > It's a public-relations war for the hearts and minds of circus-goers.

> > And with Ringling alone taking in more than $200 million a year, the

> > stakes are high.

> >

> > Parsons: " Why do the circuses care about their protests? Why pay any

> > attention at all? Why do they hire a guy like you to spy on them and

> > inflitrate them? "

> >

> > Kendall: " Well, because of the fact that they're a threat. It does cut

> > into their pockets. "

> >

> > So who is winning the circus war? Ringling said business is booming.

> But

> > Team 4 learned the company had to cancel its stop in Wichita, Kan.,

> last

> > summer because of a two-year decline in attendance.

 

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