Tom Rider, who used to be a "barn man" for Ringling Bros., said that when he worked there in the late 1990s, he regularly saw handlers of the circus' endangered Asian elephants abusing the giant creatures.
He said they used long, sharp-hooked poles, "hitting them in the legs, hooking them behind the ears" and leaving gashes the size of his finger.
Ringling denies the allegations, saying it has never been cited for animal cruelty. But today, a nearly 9-year-old legal case over the elephants' treatment will come to trial in U.S. District Court.
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These particular accusations may or may not be true, but from my understanding of elephants and their societies (animals do have social constructs and societies in nature, you know), I believe that elephants can't possibly be very happy at all in a circus environment.
Elephants are very intelligent and need lots of external stimuli (not just new tricks and screaming kids) and space to roam around (not just a big tent and a small trailer). They also have very close social bonds with one another, and I doubt circuses are very good at keeping elephant family groups happily intact.
What do you think about all this?
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