Another Elephant In The Room
Posted by Michelle Moquin on January 29th, 2012
Good morning!
You know when you find something of interest on the net, and you just keep clicking links and going deeper into a subject, sometimes changing your focus altogether to something drastically different? I’ve been doing that this morning. I started off with Mitt Romney, (Ugh! not on a Sunday!) meandered my way through a website called “Girls Gone Green”…interesting but not for today, and landed in a place that said “Yes, this is what I am going to blog today”.
I don’t know what it is, but lately I am drawn to the beauty of the beast. The beast being the Elephant.
Last November Ringling Brothers circus, a circus in my opinion that should be put to rest because of the abusive treatment of their animals, animals that are their money makers, will pay a $270,000 fine for allegedly violating the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). It’s about time. Every year this circus goes on the road and every year I get calls to head to the Oakland Coliseum in protest. Now finally something is being done.
Ringling Brothers Agree To USDA Fine For Allegedly Violating Animal Welfare Act
Life’s no circus for the Ringling Brothers these days.
The USDA announced Monday that an agreement was reached where Feld Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus (Feld), will pay a $270,000 fine for allegedly violating the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
According to a USDA press release, Feld also agreed to “develop and implement annual AWA compliance training for all employees who work with and handle animals, including trainers, handlers, attendants and veterinarians starting March 31, 2012, and to establish an AWA compliance position on its staff by February 28, 2012.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement, “The civil penalty and other stipulations in the settlement agreement will promote a better understanding of the rights and responsibilities of all exhibitors in maintaining and caring for animals under their care.”
According to the Associated Press, Feld Entertainment does not admit to violating the law. CEO Kenneth Feld said in a statement, “We look forward to working with the USDA in a cooperative and transparent manner that meets our shared goal of ensuring that our animals are healthy and receive the highest quality care.”
Actress Olivia Munn recently blogged for HuffPost about Sarah, a 54-year-old elephant with a chronic infection, forced to perform with Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus despite recently collapsing. Munn wrote, “An elephant who reaches out her trunk to another in friendship or for comfort is punished with a whack of a bullhook — a heavy baton with a sharp point and hook on the end — the ubiquitous device used by Ringling to keep elephants fearful and compliant.”
According to a PETA website, “In the Ringling Bros. circus, elephants are beaten, hit, poked, prodded, and jabbed with sharp hooks, sometimes until bloody. Tigers are viciously struck with sticks so that they’ll perform difficult and confusing tricks.”
The blame doesn’t stop at the circus, though.
Mother Jones found in a year-long investigation that the USDA has conducted over a dozen investigations of Feld Entertainment, and yet regulators have not acted on their findings of abuse. A former head of the animal care unit in the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said that with a limited budget, the agency was unable to prosecute many cases.
PETA has been fighting Ringling Bros. for several years, complaining about the death of a baby elephant, the killing of a lion, and the beating of other elephants. The organization’s fight against the circus has gained support from Munn as well as other celebrities including Pink, Sarah Silverman and Cloris Leachman.
PETA wrote in a press statement, “The government has taken a first step, and now it must confiscate the elephants. What remains to be done is for the public to be made aware of this history of abuse so that people will know to keep their children away from the circus.”
Earlier this month, former game show host Bob Barker went to Capitol Hill to advocate for the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act, a bipartisan bill that would prohibit the use of exotic animals in traveling shows. Barker told HuffPost, “I’d like to see Ringling Brothers closed … It’s all animal exploitation. It’s heartbreaking.”
Elephant abuse isn’t contained to circus environments. Earlier this year, reports and video footage allegedly showed that the elephant featured in “Water For Elephants” was abused while training for movies. The video claims to reveal elephants being beaten with bull hooks and receiving electric shocks.
Even as Feld is paying its fine, some wonder — Are entertainment-seeking humans partially to blame for funding the abuse?
WATCH a PETA undercover investigation:
Readers: Yes, to answer the above question, we are to blame if we attend circuses such as this one. I can barely watch the video, the abuse that these precious animals have to endure at the hands of these thugs with bullhooks and whips is unbearable. I look over at Lucy, my beloved dog, and give her a big hug, thinking how lucky she is to be so well taken care of. And yet it shouldn’t be “luck”, it should be a natural living “right” for all animals.
Okay, I lied. I said that I wasn’t going to blog about “Girls Gone Green”, but I found myself back there and this is what I found. A beautifully made video showing the cruel and barbaric treatment of circus animals.
If you are not nearby, please help us fight circus cruelty on a national level by contacting your government reps about H.R. 3359: The Traveling Exotic Animals Protection Act. You can use the link about to find your Representatives or Senators, or you can send an automated message already filled out for you by Break The Chain – but remember, the message is stronger when it contains your own words! Speak straight from your heart.
Please watch the video below to hear Jacksonville residents and Girls Gone Green members speaking passionately to the City Council to call for a ban of Ringling Bros. from our city. You will also see in the video why they are speaking up for these tortured individuals.
Please do not support Ringling Brothers. Please support HR 3359 for the animals. Thank you.
*******
Christine Elizabeth: My pleasure, and nor I. Thank you for the birthday wishes!
Got to run…
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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January 29th, 2012 at 11:25 am
Dear Loyal Conservative,
When Jimmy Carter, LBJ and the New Deal start looking pretty harmless compared to the Obama administration, things must be a lot worse than we thought.
Welcome to that moment.
According to Mark Steyn and his new book
After America: Get Ready for Armageddon:
Barack Obama is not the first African-American President. He’s the first Scandinavian Prime Minister of the United States. Dispassionate, super-rational — and a big fan of big government, European-style.
He and his “sophisticated,” elite cronies are aiming for nothing short of “a full-scale Europeanization of American exceptionalism.”
They’re driving us toward nanny-state security — even dictating which light bulb to buy.
They favor bureaucratic regulation over a thriving, free-market economy.
We are hurtling toward a moment that will plunge the US into European-style stasis at best, and complete disintegration at worst.
There is no recovery if we let that happen.
If it happens, it will not be over years — we’ve already used those up. We’re teetering on the brink of sudden collapse and chaos.
If this sounds dark and frightening… it is. But Mark Steyn has a magic touch. One reviewer said that reading Steyn’s previous best-seller, America Alone was “the most fun I’ve had being depressed.” And Ann Coulter says, “Only Mark Steyn can write about the decline of America and leave you laughing.”
This is a unique experience from a writer called “the most entertaining, yet profound, columnist on the planet.”
Steyn describes America’s slide into dissolution as an economic and geopolitical Armageddon. In the aftermath, he sees a world…
Where China is the new superpower…
The Middle East is dominated by Iran…
And our own shores are wracked by violence and even secession.
In his previous book, New York Times bestseller America Alone, Steyn foresaw what we’re watching happen today — the collapse of nearly every western country.
But he made an exception for the US.
Not this time. This time, with Washington’s help, we’ve boarded the sinking ship — and it’s not too big to sink.
Fortunately, Steyn has a plan. A way to win us back our cherished freedom and prosperity. You’ll definitely want to sign on and get to work.
“Mark Steyn has done it again,” says Sean Hannity.
Mark Levin advises, “The choice is stark — we either listen to Steyn and act on his recommendations or face economic and cultural Armageddon.”
This could be the most frightening, most hopeful, funniest and finally, most important book you read this year or any year.
And now, for a limited time, we at Human Events are making After America: Get Ready for Armageddon available to you absolutely FREE — just for trying us at zero risk.
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January 29th, 2012 at 11:28 am
Al, what was the name of that spray, the magazine, or the company that makes it?
January 29th, 2012 at 12:29 pm
Michelle:
We are naturally curious about elephants. They are the largest living land animals on earth today. The largest elephant on record weighed about 24,000 Lbs. (12 tons). We find them fascinating because they can be so huge yet they can be so gentle.
Elephants are very intelligent, social animals and after years of abuse in a circus environment they can become psychotic and attack a trainer or even an audience.
Elephants are being forced to live an un-natural lifestyle. Therefore they are forbidden to be part of European Circuses. The EU realizes that it is abusive to harm elephants in a circus environment.
We must learn from the Europeans. Americans are so spoiled. We are accustomed to having elephants at the Circus and people want to show their children and grandchildren elephants, just as they saw them so we need intervention to keep them out of Circuses in the USA.
We were awarded stewardship over the animals of earth. We must stop the obvious abuse that is going on in animal shows around our country just so some kid can see an animal — even if it hurts or kills that animal.
Elephants in the wild are killed for their ivory tusks, which have many uses.
Humans are encroaching on the elephant’s natural environment so it is shrinking, leaving the elephant less room to roam. One day the noble elephant will be just another extinct animal which once lived on planet earth.
HOWIE
January 29th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Thomas, Google “License Tag Sprays”, there are several sources for this stuff. I cannot remember the brand name, only what it does. I think that camera tickets suck, the registered owner might not be the guilty driver, Big Brother is getting to be too nosey and much too greedy.
Al
January 29th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Hi Michelle, I love elephants myself. Below is a link to some baby elephants playing. Take a look, it is very cute.
Al
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=u-TUBE+%2f+BABY+ELEPHANTS&mid=BFF634F3C0699371C3F5BFF634F3C0699371C3F5&view=detail&FORM=VIRE3
January 29th, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Hi Mischa, the video was hard to watch, how the hell people can act so cruel and be ok with it is totally beyond me…
on the other hand, Al, that was a great video, animals just running free in a natural setting, the way it should be, thanks for that.
- ZL
January 30th, 2012 at 1:51 am
Again the men on Guam are trying to control the bodies of women.
Tim Rohr is one sick bastard. Now he has cowered many members of the Democrat party.
This has got to stop.
Anna
January 30th, 2012 at 7:00 am
Israel is very proud of you Howie.
January 30th, 2012 at 7:03 am
Putin is campaigning to regain the presidency in March. So he is supporting supporting Assard’s regime against the the West to show how tough he is.
January 30th, 2012 at 8:01 am
Peter what you say has merit. But I think the greater reason is money.
Putin is enriching himself at the expense of the Syrian people’s lives and liberty. Plus he is endangering the rest of the world.
The greedy bastard is in it for the money he can syphon off from the international arms contracts he has with Assard.
Putin hopes that Assad can hang on to power with his help and repay him and Russia with more weapons contracts and other lucrative deals. All or which Putin syphons off a nice chunk for himself.
He is another war criminal like your ex president bush.
NADĚŽDA
January 30th, 2012 at 8:25 am
Zen Lill, I read your link Zen Lill #3(Jan 28). Honestly girl do you have to always be the one to help men spread their propaganda that women are just as bad as men?
That article sounds like the accuse white boys(nod to Robert,RT) use to excuse slavery when they write stories about Africans in Africa selling slaves, or the Right when they claim their is wide spread voter fraud, from one or two instances.
The story you cited for the men comprises such a tiny percentage of the female population as to not be worthy of an honorable mention in the annuals of science.
But you just had to help the men spread their propaganda that women ARE JUST AS BAD AS MEN.
Gosh with friends like you in the female world who needs asshole men to fuck us over mentally.
Debra
January 30th, 2012 at 8:27 am
Sarah Palin: Newt ‘Crucified’ By Romney Allies, GOP Establishment
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says that Newt Gingrich is being “crucified” by the Republican establishment, including allies of Mitt Romney, who are trying to rewrite his record with a barrage of negative attacks.
“Look at Newt Gingrich, what’s going on with him via the establishment’s attacks,” Palin told John Stossel of Fox Business on Thursday, the Huffington Post reported.
She added: “They’re trying to crucify this man and rewrite history and rewrite what it is that he has stood for all these years.”
Palin has not endorsed any of the GOP presidential candidates, but has been enthusiastically supportive of Gingrich.
Last week before the South Carolina GOP primary Palin said she would vote for Newt Gingrich if she was voting in that state’s primary.
She added: ‘They’re trying to crucify this man and rewrite history and rewrite what it is that he has stood for all these years.”
Palin has not endorsed any of the GOP presidential candidates, but has been enthusiastically supportive of Gingrich.
Last week before the South Carolina GOP primary Palin said she would vote for Newt Gingrich if she was voting in that state’s primary.
Palin’s husband, Todd, has officially endorsed Gingrich for president.
Sarah Palin explained her husband’s endorsement of Gingrich: ‘I think that endorsement was real reflective of a lot of Americans who understand that somebody with experience in cutting government budgets, cutting taxes – which does more for liberty and an economic turnaround than anything else – someone who has waged war on Hillarycare and government taking over of healthcare – somebody with that experience plus somebody who has struggled personally and overcome struggles and challenges – would be one that was embraced by voters.”
And Sarah Palin’s defense of Gingrich, especially of his conservative, Reaganite record, has gotten significant backing from leading conservatives.
Note: Do You Support Gingrich or Romney? Vote in Urgent Poll – Click Here Now
On Thursday, Rush Limbaugh slammed Romney allies for a ‘coordinated attack” on Gingrich.
Limbaugh described Gingrich as the ‘premier defender of Ronald Reagan” and said such smear tactics against Gingrich hurt Mitt Romney.
‘That kind of stuff is why people hate Romney so much,” Limbaugh said.
Palin also struck out at conservative writers like Washington Post columnist George Will and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, who earlier this month called Gingrich an ‘angry little attack muffin.”
‘That’s that typical hypocrisy stuff in the media, you know, I’ve lived with over a couple of decades in the political arena,” she told Stossel, complaining that Mitt Romney doesn’t get the same treatment.
Last week, in a radio interview with Sean Hannity, Palin blasted ABC News for its interview with Gingrich’s ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, saying these kinds of media hits ‘incentivize conservatives and independents” who are tired of ‘the politics of personal destruction.”
‘We know the game now, and we just won’t put up with it. Good call, media.”
Romney is suffering a major backlash from conservatives outraged by his tactics.
Note: Do You Support Gingrich or Romney? Vote in Urgent Poll – Click Here Now
Michael Reagan, the conservative commentator and son of President Reagan, slammed Romney for his recent assault on Gongrich.
‘As governor of Massachusetts, Romney’s achievement was the most socialistic healthcare plan in the nation up until that time,” Reagan said.
‘Say what you want about Newt Gingrich but when he was speaker of the House he surrounded himself with Reagan conservatives and implemented a Ronald Reagan program of low taxes and restrained federal spending.
‘Newt’s conservative program created a huge economic boom and balanced the budget for the first time in more than a generation.” Mike Reagan concluded: “I would take Newt Gingrich’s record any day over Mitt Romney’s.”
January 30th, 2012 at 8:33 am
I agree with your assessment Debra. The article tries to excuse a man’s behavior with the christian and muslim philosophy that women entice men so they need to be controlled.
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“On the flip side, there are those who are drawn to these men by their sense of unavailability. They will not be attracted to a man unless he is taken or otherwise clearly unavailable.”
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My question to Zen Lill is “just how many women do you know that fit that category?” If you know a lot, you are running with the wrong crowd.
Most women are looking for a stable relationship. Probably less than 1% of the entire population fit in the chasing married or taken men category.
But if throwing women under the bus to gain male approval is your thing. Have at it.
Kelly
January 30th, 2012 at 8:37 am
I agree also. There is something to be gained from the advice given in the article but to focus on the few women who chase married or taken men is silly.
Joyce