With the self-proclaimed "Greatest Show On Earth" just in town—and even serving as the latest muse on Project Runway—PETA is piping up again about animal treatment at the Ringling Bros. circus. Last year the group released a video showing workers beating on the circus's elephants, and now they're asking the feds 'em down. More specifically, they're asking that their animal exhibitor license, up for renewal on the 28th, not be renewed.
According to the Daily News, PETA's Jeff Kerr said in a letter delivered to the Department of Agriculture today: "They've lied, they've tampered with evidence and they've thwarted the inspectors."
Their efforts in the past have done little to institute change, but they hope that with their 700 pages of documents, videos and photos they'll be able to package their plea more completely this time around. Another PETA higher up said, "This is the first time we've taken all the evidence and put it together to show that this is not just one bad trainer, having one bad day, with one bad elephant. This is chronic and systemic."
Those patterns—highlighted last year in this video (also posted below)—include breaking animals with whips, electric prods and sharp metal hooks.
