Please add your name to  PETA'S PETITION to end ALL animals in Ringling Bros. Circus!

AT LONG LAST: NO MORE ELEPHANTS IN RINGLING BROS. CIRCUS!

At last: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is no longer dragging abused and exploited elephants from town to town, forcing them to wear silly costumes and perform stupid tricks.

For years, PETA and caring people around the country have campaigned for this day, writing letters, organizing demonstrations, and telling everyone about Ringling’s history of elephant abuse.

PETA released video footage and eyewitness accounts of circus trainers who beat elephants, exposed the cruel methods used to train baby elephants, worked to ban sharp metal bullhooks and other cruel tools used to force elephants to perform, enlisted celebrity supporters to star in eye-catching advertisements urging people not to go to the circus, and much more.

Our efforts have paid off. So let’s celebrate by taking a look back at just a few of the events that helped call attention to the circus’s cruelty to elephants and other animals:

That was the scene in Washington, D.C., 21 years ago when Ringling Bros. showed up with elephants. There was a massive demonstration, and a dozen or so PETA supporters were arrested when they stormed the circus trucks in prison garb and elephant masks.

Local elementary school students wore T-shirts proclaiming, “Circus Animals Never Have a Nice Day,” and chanted, “There’s no excuse for animal abuse,” and Republican Sen. Robert C. Smith gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor. Both The Washington Postand The New York Times chronicled the events.

Through the years, PETA members kept the pressure on Ringling Bros., scaling buildings to hang banners, dressing up in giant elephant costumes, holding banners and sit-ins, and more.

PETA supporters demonstrated in the freezing cold as Ringling Bros. paraded its abused elephants and other animals to its shows in Norfolk, Virginia, where PETA’s Sam Simon Center is located, and in every city that Ringling dragged elephants to.

All these actions and many, many more have had an impact on the circus. It may have taken a long time, but we won one for the elephants.

PETA protesters gather during Ringling’s last ever show featuring elephants, May 1, 2016.

So let’s break open the bubbly. But remember: We still have more work to do. We need to get the elephants into a real sanctuary, not a Ringling compound where they are chained, and we need to get the lions, tigers, and other animals out of the circus, too.

We can do it. Look how far we’ve already come.

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