Girlie
05-24-06, 01:43 PM
```````````````````````
ANIMALS & THE CIRCUS
Source: www.dawnwatch.com
On Friday, May 19, CBS Evening News aired a fluff piece about the Ringling
Bros elephant breeding ground, referring to it as a sanctuary. Viewers
were treated to quotes by the Ringling team such as "The elephants I take
care of are basically like members of my family." The reporter told us
that the elephants were living in the lap of luxury -- hard to know since
the breeding ground allows no uninvited guests because they want to
"maintain the privacy for the elephants." The piece lightly refers to the
fact that a third of the baby elephants "will follow in their parents'
giant footsteps and join the circus."
Four animal protection groups, with undercover footage and eyewitness
testimony from a former Ringling Bros trainer, have brought a federal
lawsuit against Ringling Bros for its treatment of elephants. You can
read some of the details of that suit at
http://www.awionline.org/wildlife/elephants/rbsuit.htm. You'll read about
"large visible lesions" found by the USDA, during an unannounced
inspection, on the rear legs of two baby elephants, Doc and Angelica, aged
18 months. Ringling told the USDA they were formed during the "routine"
process of separating babies from their mothers. The circus has to tear
them away, pulling the babies with ropes around their legs and chains
around their necks.
You'll also read about the death of baby Benjamin, "who eyewitnesses say
was repeatedly beaten by Ringling Bros. trainers." He "died while
purportedly swimming in a pond. He was only 4 years old. Video footage
shows he preferred to remain in deep water to going towards shallower
water because his trainer was standing there holding a bullhook." A
bullhook is a heavy rod with a sharp metal hook at the end. Covering the
lawsuit, on September 5, 2005, KTVU TV in San Francisco aired footage of
his death. You can view it, as part of the story, at
http://www.ktvu.com/video/4936923/detail.html
The voiceover tells us, "The lawsuit claims that Benjamin drowned when he
tried to avoid a bullhook that had so frequently been used on him by
trainer Pat Harned. It is Pat Harned you see hitting him in the water." We
see the trainer striking Benjamin with the bullhook while he is in the
water, then exclaiming "Oh God" as he realizes Benjamin has died.
That KTVU story also shows disturbing footage of a young elephant,
Shirley, giving birth while chained by three legs, tugging and pulling at
the chains, "standing in her own amniotic fluid on a concrete floor,"
unable to move around naturally as she would, or even to kneel. The baby
therefore drops many feet onto the cement floor. We learn that the baby,
Ricardo, at eight months of age, falls off of a pedestal breaking two legs
and is euthanized.
The lawsuit also refers to baby elephant Kenny who died while traveling
with the Ringling Bros circus. According to the USDA, Ringling Bros made
him perform the day he died "after determining that the elephant was ill
and needed to be examined by a veterinarian."
Please do go to the AWI link above for more details of the suit and to
www.Circuses.com for more information about, and shocking footage of,
circus training.
With the above in mind, it is heartbreaking to watch the CBS Evening News
fluff segment from Friday, May 20, and hear the Ringling Bros breeding
ground called a "sanctuary." You can watch the CBS piece on line at
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/19/assignment_america/main1638027.shtml
OR http://tinyurl.com/fbxok
Whenever one sees corporate abuse of animals, there is a monetary reason
for it. When the media supports that abuse it may be for advertising
dollars. But other factors play a part. One is lack of knowledge -- the
reporter may not have seen the footage the rest of us have seen and may
know nothing about the truth behind Ringling. He will be far more open to
learning the truth if it is not delivered in an attacking manner. Another
factor is the credibility of animal advocates and even a distaste some in
the media may have for us -- the impression that we are angry, strident,
even potentially violent. That image does not help the animals. Viewing
CBS's nationally aired misrepresentation of the Ringling relationship with
baby elephants, we have reason to be angry. But while encouraging
absolutely every animal advocate to write to CBS and strongly express
disappointment with regard to Friday's coverage, I urge people not to vent
their anger at the expense of the animals, not to
write anything that furthers the image of animal advocates as
unreasonable and not credible. Though CBS Evening News has traditionally
not been good on animal issues (as compared to ABC, for example) we hope
that will change -- we would like CBS Evening News to become a friend to
our movement and we should keep that goal in mind when writing our notes.
Please send strong polite notes to CBS Evening News at evening@cbsnews.com
. Please be careful not to use any of my exact phrasing -- we do not want
our emails to seem like form letters. For that reason sample letters are
never a good idea when dealing with the media. You don't need to write a
Pulitzer Prize winning piece -- a couple of lines expressing your
disappointment at the biased coverage and hoping for better coverage in
the future is plenty. You can write a little more if you have time and are
inspired -- Not too long though, or your good work won't get read.
I send thanks to Ryan Merkley from Compassionate Consumers
(http://www.compassionateconsumers.org/) for making sure we knew about the
CBS Evening News piece.
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
ANIMALS & THE CIRCUS
Source: www.dawnwatch.com
On Friday, May 19, CBS Evening News aired a fluff piece about the Ringling
Bros elephant breeding ground, referring to it as a sanctuary. Viewers
were treated to quotes by the Ringling team such as "The elephants I take
care of are basically like members of my family." The reporter told us
that the elephants were living in the lap of luxury -- hard to know since
the breeding ground allows no uninvited guests because they want to
"maintain the privacy for the elephants." The piece lightly refers to the
fact that a third of the baby elephants "will follow in their parents'
giant footsteps and join the circus."
Four animal protection groups, with undercover footage and eyewitness
testimony from a former Ringling Bros trainer, have brought a federal
lawsuit against Ringling Bros for its treatment of elephants. You can
read some of the details of that suit at
http://www.awionline.org/wildlife/elephants/rbsuit.htm. You'll read about
"large visible lesions" found by the USDA, during an unannounced
inspection, on the rear legs of two baby elephants, Doc and Angelica, aged
18 months. Ringling told the USDA they were formed during the "routine"
process of separating babies from their mothers. The circus has to tear
them away, pulling the babies with ropes around their legs and chains
around their necks.
You'll also read about the death of baby Benjamin, "who eyewitnesses say
was repeatedly beaten by Ringling Bros. trainers." He "died while
purportedly swimming in a pond. He was only 4 years old. Video footage
shows he preferred to remain in deep water to going towards shallower
water because his trainer was standing there holding a bullhook." A
bullhook is a heavy rod with a sharp metal hook at the end. Covering the
lawsuit, on September 5, 2005, KTVU TV in San Francisco aired footage of
his death. You can view it, as part of the story, at
http://www.ktvu.com/video/4936923/detail.html
The voiceover tells us, "The lawsuit claims that Benjamin drowned when he
tried to avoid a bullhook that had so frequently been used on him by
trainer Pat Harned. It is Pat Harned you see hitting him in the water." We
see the trainer striking Benjamin with the bullhook while he is in the
water, then exclaiming "Oh God" as he realizes Benjamin has died.
That KTVU story also shows disturbing footage of a young elephant,
Shirley, giving birth while chained by three legs, tugging and pulling at
the chains, "standing in her own amniotic fluid on a concrete floor,"
unable to move around naturally as she would, or even to kneel. The baby
therefore drops many feet onto the cement floor. We learn that the baby,
Ricardo, at eight months of age, falls off of a pedestal breaking two legs
and is euthanized.
The lawsuit also refers to baby elephant Kenny who died while traveling
with the Ringling Bros circus. According to the USDA, Ringling Bros made
him perform the day he died "after determining that the elephant was ill
and needed to be examined by a veterinarian."
Please do go to the AWI link above for more details of the suit and to
www.Circuses.com for more information about, and shocking footage of,
circus training.
With the above in mind, it is heartbreaking to watch the CBS Evening News
fluff segment from Friday, May 20, and hear the Ringling Bros breeding
ground called a "sanctuary." You can watch the CBS piece on line at
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/19/assignment_america/main1638027.shtml
OR http://tinyurl.com/fbxok
Whenever one sees corporate abuse of animals, there is a monetary reason
for it. When the media supports that abuse it may be for advertising
dollars. But other factors play a part. One is lack of knowledge -- the
reporter may not have seen the footage the rest of us have seen and may
know nothing about the truth behind Ringling. He will be far more open to
learning the truth if it is not delivered in an attacking manner. Another
factor is the credibility of animal advocates and even a distaste some in
the media may have for us -- the impression that we are angry, strident,
even potentially violent. That image does not help the animals. Viewing
CBS's nationally aired misrepresentation of the Ringling relationship with
baby elephants, we have reason to be angry. But while encouraging
absolutely every animal advocate to write to CBS and strongly express
disappointment with regard to Friday's coverage, I urge people not to vent
their anger at the expense of the animals, not to
write anything that furthers the image of animal advocates as
unreasonable and not credible. Though CBS Evening News has traditionally
not been good on animal issues (as compared to ABC, for example) we hope
that will change -- we would like CBS Evening News to become a friend to
our movement and we should keep that goal in mind when writing our notes.
Please send strong polite notes to CBS Evening News at evening@cbsnews.com
. Please be careful not to use any of my exact phrasing -- we do not want
our emails to seem like form letters. For that reason sample letters are
never a good idea when dealing with the media. You don't need to write a
Pulitzer Prize winning piece -- a couple of lines expressing your
disappointment at the biased coverage and hoping for better coverage in
the future is plenty. You can write a little more if you have time and are
inspired -- Not too long though, or your good work won't get read.
I send thanks to Ryan Merkley from Compassionate Consumers
(http://www.compassionateconsumers.org/) for making sure we knew about the
CBS Evening News piece.
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn