NYC Weighs Ban on Circus Elephants

Judge says plaintiff wasn't credible

(NEWSER) - A judge threw out an elephant abuse lawsuit against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, saying the plaintiff, former Ringling employee Tom Rider, hadn’t demonstrated a close enough attachment to the animals. Rider and the Animal Protection Institute had argued that circus practices like using bull hooks on elephants or chaining them for prolonged periods of times constituted violations of the Endangered Species Act. More»

Circus mistreated elephants and tigers, feds say

(NEWSER) - The Ringling Brothers circus—without admitting wrongdoing—has paid $270,000 to settle federal accusations that it mistreated elephants, tigers, zebras, and other exotic animals. Federal inspectors found that a sick elephant was forced to perform, elephants' faces were cut by sharp edges in transport trailers, big cats were kept in rusty cages with splintered floors, and meat was delivered to tigers in the same wheelbarrows that their waste was hauled in, MSNBC reports. More»

(NEWSER) - PETA has released video it says shows cruelty to circus elephants, the Orange County Register reports. The tape shows Ringling Bros. handlers swatting elephants with “bull hooks,” and one pachyderm exhibiting signs of “severe psychological distress.” “This video again shows what we have been saying for years,” PETA charges. “These animals are routinely abused to perform in ways that they don’t naturally perform.” More»

Footloose pachyderm tours downtown Zurich

(NEWSER) - An escaped elephant went on a tour of downtown Zurich yesterday evening, spending an hour on the loose before police apprehended her. Sabu, a 26-year-old female from the Swiss national circus, cooled off in Lake Zurich before roaming the streets of the business district and doing a little window-shopping on the Bahnhofstrasse, Bloomberg reports .See video of the escapade in the gallery above or by clicking here . More»

Horses now entitled to vacation

(NEWSER) - New York’s city council took a stand yesterday for some of the city’s most put-upon, working-class schlubs: the horses who schlep carriages through Central Park. From now on, those unfortunate beasts are entitled to five weeks of vacation outside the city every year, the New York Post reports. Their drivers got a little something, too; they can now charge $50 for the first 20 minutes of the ride, up from the previous $34 for 30 minutes. More»