I just got an email asking why I never posted about PETA's recent Chipotle victory and pointing out that for activists, hearing about these successes can make a huge difference as far as showing that their hard work is paying off and that, slowly but surely, we’re changing both public opinion and the attitudes of large corporations about how animals should be treated. Which, well, fair enough. So this post’s all about good news. Check it:

1. Following negotiations between PETA and Chipotle Mexican Grill, the company has agreed to give purchasing preference to suppliers that use controlled-atmosphere killing, by far the most humane method of slaughter in existence. Here’s what PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich says about the decision:
   
   

   "While we wish that Chipotle's customers would stick to the great vegetarian items on the menu, the company should be commended for taking steps to improve the dying conditions for some of the animals who are killed for its restaurants."

2. Grocery chain Harris Teeter, which recently adopted an extremely progressive new animal welfare policy after talking with our Corporate Affairs Department, agreed to drop its promotion of the Ringling Bros. Circus after we let the company know about Ringling’s abusive practices.
3. Just hours after PETA posted an action alert about a cruel display planned for the Discovery Science Center in Orange County (they were going to put an elephant inside a giant bubble), the center posted a statement on their site saying they’d cancelled the event.

All this in just the past couple of weeks. Boo ya!

For a little behind-the-scenes info about our Corporate Affairs Department, which has been an integral part of getting a lot of these things done, check out this piece that recently appeared in The Boston Globe.

I’ve got another victory coming your way, but this one’s so big it merits a separate post. Stay tuned!

We’re just knocking them out of the park at the moment. Literally two hours after posting an alert on our site asking members to contact the American subsidiary of Russian oil-giant Lukoil about their promotion of the Ringling Bros. Circus, the company has made the compassionate decision to cut all ties with the circus due to its history of animal abuse. Or, as they put it in their email to us: "Per our conversation today, we do not have a sponsorship/partnership with Ringling Bros. and are not going to in the future."

Thanks, guys! And thanks to everyone who helped us out by letting Lukoil know what they were getting into.

We were recently informed by a whistleblower that Ringling trainer Joe Frisco Jr. was attacked by one of the elephants used by the circus, sustaining injuries severe enough to send him to the hospital. The source claimed that Frisco "has been pounding" on the elephant, which, given the Frisco family’s penchant for violently abusing animals, sounds about right to me. Joe’s brother Tim Frisco was caught on tape viciously beating elephants with steel-tipped bullhooks for the Carson & Barnes Circus, and you can watch video footage showing some of Tim Frisco’s “work” for the circus below. We’ve asked the USDA to look into this incident, so I’ll let you know how that investigation turns out.

PETA got a call this week from representatives of Denny's restaurants confirming that the company has ended its partnership with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Denny's smart decision to sever ties with a company that (among other things) beats animals with steel-tipped hooks to make them perform required a little bit of pushing from our end, including protests at Denny's HQ and outside Denny's CEO Nelson Marchioli's speaking engagements, mailings to every Denny's restaurant in the country, personal meetings with restaurant managers, countless calls and emails from our members, a spoof website, and a shareholder resolution calling on the company to end its affiliation with Ringling.

The point I want to really drive home here is that with awesome, creative animal-free circuses like Cirque Du Soleil delighting audiences around the country, there's absolutely no reason why a company looking to do a circus promotion would ever need to get into bed with Ringling Bros. It's outdated, it's unethical, and it's bad for business. And we'll do everything we can to make sure the world knows that.

Denny's joins General Mills, Burger King, Liz Claiborne, MasterCard, Ford Motor Company, and Sears, Roebuck and Co., all of which ended their sponsorships of either Ringling or UniverSoul circuses following negotiations with PETA. Here's what PETA Director Debbie Leahy had to say about the victory:

"We commend Denny's for distancing itself from the cruelty to animals that defines Ringling. Denny's has realized that supporting animal abuse is no way to promote a family-oriented business."

A huge thank you to everyone who took action on this campaign—calling or e-mailing Denny's, participating in protests, or simply encouraging their friends and family to boycott the company until it ended its association with Ringling. This is a big victory for the animals suffering under the Big Top, and it sends an important message to circuses that use animals that their days are numbered. But they already knew that.

And finally, if you have a moment, please click here to ask AAA to follow Denny’s lead and sever all ties with Ringling Bros.

Since Denny’s refuses to listen to us about their continued promotions of the Ringling Bros. Circus, we figured we’d take our message straight to their headquarters. Check out the pics from Wednesday’s demonstration outside Denny’s HQ in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Thanks to everyone who came out to the protest—and especially to my friend Jenna, who played the part of the baby elephant’s backside to perfection.

Nice work, everybody.

As I mentioned before, we're pretty effing displeased with Denny's restaurants at the moment, since the company has jumped into bed with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, who, in addition to being documented animal abusers, are seriously among the sleaziest bunch of people anyone could ever hope to do business with (for a little background on that claim, check out this recent article from the Huffington Post).

But yeah. The point is that Denny's needs to find themselves another corporate partnership ASAP, and until they do, we'll be letting them know about it on the daily. Here's a pic from a recent demonstration in New York. Thanks to all the activists who came out!

My friend and colleague Jason Bayless has been on tour with Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus for three long months now, and I figured it was about time we had a look back at his tireless efforts to make sure that anyone who goes to a Ringling event in any state gets the elephants' side of the story too. Check out the slideshow of the tour that he sent me today:

PETA's Circus Specialist RaeLeann Smith, and former Ringling employee Archele Hundley, just got back from the National Conference of State Legislators, where they spoke with over 80 state legislators who heard Archele's account of daily abuse at the circus. The pair also distributed over 400 Training & Tragedy DVDs to this influential group.

One high point in the conference was when a group of kids from Project Citizen stopped by our booth to watch the video, and it got them so riled up that they stormed over to Ringling's booth, which was located conveniently behind ours, to grill them about what they had just witnessed. The kids backed away as the Ringling goons tried to hand them free bags and shirts, and at one point, they even asked to take our display bullhook to Ringling to confront them. In the end, despite Ringling’s best efforts, the kids weren't buying it, and told RaeLeann and Archele "They just lied to us; they claim they use treats to train the elephants. Yeah right!"

Face it Ringling, your days are numbered. This generation of kids is just too smart for you . . .

Here's the video that changed those kids' lives.

I spent yesterday morning handing out leaflets outside the Ringling Bros. Circus, which is having its last desultory gasp in Norfolk this weekend before it bullies the elephants and other animals back into cramped boxcars and chains them up for the trip to whatever city it's going to inflict its weird, sadistic little show on next week. There are a lot of cities that give Ringling a really hard time when it comes to town, as activists all round the country rally round to get the word out about the circus's long history of animal abuse, safety violations, and the occasional child pornography scandal for good measure, but I'm fairly sure they dread the Norfolk shows more than any other stop on the tour, as the whole office takes a field trip to opening night, along with a bunch of local activists, to make sure that everyone attending the circus gets the elephants' side of the story as well. Apart from the inevitable middle finger or two, most people are really cool about it and grateful for the information—we always hear stories from people who have thrown away their tickets or vowed never to take their kids to an animal circus again. This year some prospective circusgoers even promised to come out leafleting with us on the weekend, which, well, you can't ask for more than that. Anyway, here's a video.

Check this ish out—this piece in our local paper brought a smile to my face today, since all of us here at PETA are gonna be out in the freezing cold tomorrow night protesting opening night of the Ringling Bros. Circus.

And they included this beautiful photo of some local kids at an anti-Ringling demonstration. Love it.

CREDIT: Leona Baker

We held a big press conference in our offices on Tuesday to discuss the allegations of two former Ringling employees, who recently contacted us to tell us about their firsthand experience of the circus's abusive treatment of animals. Both employees, who worked on the animal crew, told us they witnessed routine abuse behind the scenes, including a violent beating of an elephant which lasted 30 minutes. It was really nice to see some members of the media show up to hear about this breaking news—sad as it sounds, normally with this sort of thing we have to take all our clothes off (or at least show a little leg) to get some attention. But this is a great sign that people around the country are really starting to come round to the idea that animal circuses need to go the way of bear-baiting and cockfighting (there are only two states left that are still being ass-backwards about cockfighting) as something that was probably a really lousy idea in the first place.

So a little while back, we had this brilliant idea for a web feature, which was going to be called "PETA’s Top 10 Reasons to Go to Ringling Circus." The idea was that it would secretly be, like, 10 reasons not to go, except cleverly disguised in a different format. Or something. I don't remember exactly—but I do remember that the meeting where we discussed it was really fun, and people were laughing a lot. Unfortunately, once the hilarity had died down and we actually wrote up the text, it just didn't come out quite right—turns out it may have been one of those "you had to be there" type of things. It seemed like a shame to just let the feature die though, so I bravely volunteered to post it right here on this very blog. Just don't blame me if you don't think it's funny.

Anyway, here it is. Ten PETA points to anyone who posts a comment with a reason that's better than ours. Who knows, maybe it’ll mean salvation for this feature.

P.S. PETA points don’t really exist.

10. Even the dullest show on earth is more exciting than your pitiful life.

Get a life! Animal abuse and domination is not entertainment or education. You can enjoy modern circuses that don’t use ho-hum animal acts, such as Cirque Du Soleil. Or come up with some great old-fashioned family entertainment, such as a day trip to a museum or nature preserve or family picnic at a local park. Or God forbid you actually do something active with your kids, like roller skating or a hike!

9. Coming from a broken family, you feel right at home among the animals who have been ripped from their families.

Baby elephants as young as 1 ½ years of age are torn from their mothers to be broken, trained, and sent out on the road. Four baby elephants born at Ringling’s breeding compound have died since 1998. One fractured both hind legs when he fell from a circus pedestal, another drowned trying to escape a trainer, another got sick and died on the road and one died when she was just a few weeks old.

8. You want to show your kids where they’ll end up if they don’t do well in school.


Convicts and Criminals and Felons, oh my! From Ringling head elephant trainer Sacha Houcke (who was fined for beating his daughter) to Spanky the Clown (child pornography) to a murderer on parole and an acrobat arrested for sexual battery – Ringling’s had them all. Can you say “The Most Unsavory Show on Earth?”

7. You want to teach your kids demeaning of life.

Teaching kids about wild animals by taking them to the circus is like teaching them about sex by showing them porno movies. The circus teaches your kids that chaining, caging, whipping and beating animals is acceptable – a bad lesson considering that learning and development experts stress that “Children should see adults treating animals with dignity and respect at all times.”

6. You think $40 on sno-cones is money well-spent.

You won’t be alone if you stay home instead of going to the Ringling Circus. Attendance at circuses is down while prices for concessions – sno-cones, soft drinks, programs and kids’ toys are way up. Plan on squandering several hundred dollars for a family of four to visit the circus this year.

5. It’s like When Animals Attack meets Russian roulette!

At least 12 humans have been killed and more than 100 injured in the U.S. by rampaging elephants. An elephant in a circus traveling in Hawaii killed her trainer and injured another circus worker – it took 87 shots from pistols, rifles, and high powered weapons to stop her. Other elephants have injured and killed trainers and spectators. Are you sure you want to enter your family in the Death-by-Elephant Lottery by going to the circus?

4. If you don’t help the circus owner pay his fines and legal fees for animal abuse who will?

Ringling management forked over $20,000 to settle charges for the death a baby elephant who was forced to perform while sick; $51,305 in legal fees in a PETA lawsuit; and more fines may be on the way with multiple investigations open by the USDA and a lawsuit for violating the Endangered Species Act.

3. You believe that an elephant trainer who beat his daughter would be kind to animals.

Ringling head elephant trainer Sacha Houcke pled guilty in May 2005 for beating his own daughter. Lucky for his daughter that Sacha didn’t use the same bullhook on her that he frequently uses on elephants.

2. You think that 2000 years in captivity isn’t nearly long enough to understand elephants’ need for vast spaces.

Elephants have been exhibited in captivity since before the birth of Christ. Despite Ringling’s claims of education and conservation, there are fewer elephants in the wild today than ever before and those in captivity often die prematurely from health problems caused by a lack of space. While most of Ringling’s elephants were captured in the wild, none of the baby elephants born at its breeding compound can ever be released into the wild because they won’t know how to survive.

1. You’re a sucker, plain and simple

P.T. Barnum allegedly said “there is a sucker born every minute.” He might have been talking about people who spend good money to see animals abused at the circus (and pay for those $13 ‘souvenir’ programs).

Did you get this far? Congratulations! Remember, 10 precious PETA points for every reason you can come up with that's better than ours. Don't everybody shout at once.