Ringling Bros. Protest

As part of a campaign against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, a protest group organized by the Animal Protection Institute welcomed the circus’ opening night in Jacksonville, Fla., January 26th with a controversial billboard.

The intent of API’s protest was to remind fans visiting the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena that the circus is no fun for animals, according to a statement. The group was armed with informational materials, along with a 22-foot mobile billboard depicting an elephant in chains and asking the questions: “Would you chain your dog for most of her life? Why pay a circus to do it to elephants?”

“We have a very large truck; there’s actually billboards on both sides of it,” Michelle Thew, CEO of API, told Pollstar as she was returning to California from the protest. “It’s actually enabled us to get the message out directly to the public.”

The billboard was rejected by outdoor companies, but API secured the display and drove it around the Jacksonville area. Thew said the billboard will be traveling to other locations where API will be protesting the circus – including “major venues across the U.S.”

“If the depiction of life for these animals is too graphic to be shown on a billboard, the reality is too graphic for them to endure in the circus,” she said. “Protestors will be outside the arena on [January 26th] with a clear message – the catalog of misery that circus animals endure must come to an end. This is not family entertainment.”

But Ringling Bros. spokesman Darin Johnson disagrees. In fact, he says that the circus’ animals are treated with the utmost care and respect.

“I can sit here with great confidence and tell you they’re well cared for,” Johnson told Pollstar. “[The protest] flies in the face of the commitment that I can tell you Ringling Bros. has made with regards to animal care and stewardship, and conservation.”

He added that the latest API protest is merely a PR stunt that “has very much misrepresented and misinformed the public with its campaign.”

The API campaign also included a series of 30-second TV spots that ran in the area January 17-24 on the Learning Channel and Animal Planet.

“The featured elephant in that campaign is not a Ringling Bros. elephant, as well as the video and audio footage they’re using as part of their radio and television spots,” Johnson said, adding that the incidents mentioned in the spots occurred 13 years ago at a non-Ringling Bros. circus.

“Once again, activists are making attempts to either rehash or tie together old news and, in this case, news unrelated to Ringling Bros. to try and further their agenda,” he added

Johnson doesn’t feel the protests will affect ticket sales or the number of people who attend the circus. He pointed out that research has shown that 80 percent of the reason why people go the circus is to see the animals.

“To me, a lot of money is wasted on a lot of PR stunts by the animal rights groups that could instead be committed to real animal care and conservation programs,” he said. “The animal rights groups aren’t being good stewards to their members’ money.”

Ringling Bros. is scheduled to premiere at New York’s Madison Square Garden Arena March 24th. The 135th edition of the circus will continue to tour through 2006, according to Johnson.