Animal Welfare Groups Appeal To Judge Whilst Awaiting Trial
Posted: Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
A group of animal welfare groups has appealed to a judge to address the practice of chaining up elephants whilst they await a trial over a lawsuit that they filed in 2000. The longstanding lawsuit aims to stop this sort of practice in circuses, with animal welfare officials claiming that elephants are chained up in box cars for many consecutive hours.
The lawsuit claims that Ringling Bros circus chains up the animals for an average of over twenty six hours at a time, and states that this can sometimes stretch to over seventy hours when the circus is travelling. Circus officials have argued that the practice is legal and for the animals’ own safety.
An attorney working for the animal welfare groups stated: “It’s not fair. It’s not humane, what kind of life these animals have to live in order to give a 12-minute performance.” However, a circus official said that the claims in the lawsuit were exaggerations, stating: “The elephants spend the majority of their waking hours socializing, exercising — untethered.”
Lisa Weisberg, senior vice president of government affairs for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, stated: “The public should be outraged at the amount of time these animals are forced to be shackled and confined.”
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