PHOTO RINLINGBEATSANIMALS.COM
An elephant calf is trained at
Ringling Brothers breeding center
AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS
Sarah, a 54-year-old Asian elephant performing for the Ringling Brothers Circus,
collapsed in Anaheim Aug. 7. Ringling will bring its circus to Eugene Aug. 26-28,
with four shows at Matthew Knight Arena, but as the circus draws near, Sarah the
elephant’s mishap has set off an intense debate about the cause of her fall, and in
Eugene protesters say they plan to make their feelings about the abuse of circus
animals known.
Ringling Brothers says Sarah fell while being loaded onto a rail car. Animal rights
activists say stress and fatigue caused the fall. Sarah has suffered from a chronic
condition since 1997, but she still performs.
Ringling is quick to defend its use of animals in the circus, saying it has never
been found in violation of the USDA’s Animal Welfare Act, but in fact Ringling
Brothers has been cited multiple times, including a June 2011 repeat citation on Sarah
for failing to provide adequate medical care for a pus-like discharge during urination.
The senior veterinarian instructed handlers to flush Sarah’s rectum twice a day, but
the directions were not followed, according to the citation.
Cathy Carden, a Ringling elephant handler who travels with elephants Carol,
Duchess and Patty, says the elephants are part of her family. “We make sure that the
quality of life is the best that it can possibly be,” she says. “The elephants travel very
well.” Carden says the animals like to look outside while they travel in the railcars.
“They actually like it; it’s their safe haven,” she says. “They feel very safe and secure
in there.”
Local animal-lovers, outraged to learn the circus would be allowed to perform in
Eugene, are planning a peaceful protest of the circus (see Activist Alert). They will
hand out information to the public and have signs. “Because Ringling have such a
great PR system, people don’t realize all the abuse is happening,” says Molly Sargent,
who protested Ringling Brothers years ago in Seattle. “Once they learn about the real
treatment of the animals, usually they think about it and maybe won’t come back
again.”
The protest will be non-violent, and green-shirted legal observers and videographers
will be present to support the animal-lovers’ civil liberties as they support the wild
animals in captivity.
Sargent says that using wild animals who can’t be domesticated is a big part of the
cruelty issue. “They’re wild animals that are not allowed to do any of their normal
wild behaviors that keep wild animals healthy and sane,” she says. “They basically
just go crazy, doing stereotypic behaviors, pacing and pacing.” — Shannon Finnell
CLEAN UP VS.
COVER UP
The waste site at Hanford in southern
Washington, just across the Columbia
River from Oregon, has been called one
of the most contaminated places in the
Western Hemisphere. The U.S.
Department of Energy dumped nuclear
waste into the area’s soil up until 1995.
Now USDOE and the Environmental
Protection Agency are looking for ways
to deal with the waste.
According to Gerry Pollet, executive
director of the citizen advocacy group
Heart of America Northwest (HOANW),
there is enough plutonium in the soil at
Hanford to make more than 70 atomic
bombs.
The sites are also filled with radioactive
cesium and massive quantities of toxic
chemical wastes used to process
plutonium. Pollet said this waste could
mobilize the plutonium and other wastes
through the soil. Pollet added that the
liquid waste sites, which are on Hanford’s
Central Plateau and above groundwater
that flows into the Columbia River,
would most certainly affect water that
will be tapped for drinking and irrigation.
The USDOE said the plutonium left
behind wo uld stay put, and the agency
proposed covering it up with dirt. The
USDOE plans on digging up 15 feet of
dirt beneath some of the disposal sites.
But, according to Pollet, the agency only
plans to dig up two feet at the worst
sites, leaving half of the plutonium free
to seep into groundwater and risk being
dug up in any future excavations.
HOANW is advocating for a “clean
up” of the area, not a “cover up.”
“We believe plutonium and chemical
wastes should be dug up,” Pollet said.
“The chemical wastes should be treated
and sent to licensed hazardous waste
disposal facilities, and the plutonium
sent to a deep underground repository.”
USDOE and EPA opened a public
comment period, which runs until Sept.
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