From Today's NYTimes: Elephant Trainer on Trial in Abuse Case

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

Today's NY Times features a story on the cruelty case filed against a circus

trainer with Ringling Brothers. This was covered yesterday on NPR as well.

Given the PR spin agents at Ringling, it's *miraculous* that this case was

not dismissed by the judge. This is our opportunity to write letters to

various media outlets (beginning with the NYTimes: letters)

indicating that from its very foundation, keeping circus animals

necessitates kidnapping animals from the wild, breaking the animal's spirit

through torture and abuse, and then desensitizing children to the fact that

animals are creatures deserving of respect, through the absurd use of

magnificent beings in demeaning and degrading acts. Please take 5 minutes

(the NY Times has a strict policy of keeping letters to under 150 words, so

this really takes very little time) to fire off a letter to the NY Times,

advocating on behalf of the elephants. If you go over to the article

(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/18/national/18ELEP.html?ei=1 & en=98ff62bd59dd

757c & ex=1009692662 & pagewanted=print), you'll be appalled to see the

photograph of the trainer who is currently being charged. He's posing with

the elephant in a seeming gesture of mutual affection. It's enough to make

anyone want to projectile vomit across the room. Really, it's an absolute

sham, and the media & the public needs to hear from us. Please, please,

please write right now.

 

Thanks,

Alka

 

December 18, 2001

Elephant Trainer on Trial in an Abuse Case

By GREG WINTER

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 17 - Trading the red tuxedo tails that characterize

his public appearances for a conservative black suit, Mark Oliver Gebel, one

of the biggest stars of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus,

went on trial today on charges that he abused an Asian elephant when the

" greatest show on earth " marched through here this summer.

The case against Mr. Gebel - the 31-year-old son of the legendary lion tamer

Gunther Gebel-Williams, who died earlier this year - stems from an incident

here in August during the grand finale of a circus performance. While

parading a trail of elephants in from the parking lot outside, Mr. Gebel

lunged at the leader, Asia, with a three-foot-long hook, according to court

documents, puncturing it on the left front leg.

The defense dismisses the cut as a " pinprick " on an 8,000-pound elephant

that is eight feet tall. At most, the charges, which were first filed by the

local humane society, carry a six- month jail sentence and a $1,000 fine.

But the fact that they were brought at all has emboldened animal rights

groups around the country and worried Ringling Brothers.

For the first time in the circus's 132-year history, a private nonprofit

animal welfare group has succeeded in having criminal charges brought

against it, setting a precedent that is shifting the battle about animals

under the big top from legislation and lawsuits into the criminal courts.

" That's why we're fighting it so hard, " said Catherine Ort-Mabry, a company

spokeswoman, who emphasized Mr. Gebel's innocence. Ringling Brothers is

owned by Feld Entertainment, which also operates Walt Disney's World on Ice

and Siegfried and Roy's tiger show in Las Vegas.

At the opening of the trial today, Judge Linda R. Condron of Santa Clara

County Superior Court rejected a defense motion to dismiss the charges,

setting the stage for jury selection.

This is not the only time that Ringling Brothers, which boasts of having the

largest herd of Asian elephants outside Asia, has been accused of

mistreating its animals.

Since 1990 the circus has been investigated 14 times by the Department of

Agriculture for violations of the Federal Animal Welfare Act. But it has

rarely faced the administrative charges that the agency is empowered to

bring.

A more sustained challenge to Ringling Brothers has come instead from the

many advocacy groups that push for an end to circus herds, arguing that

forcing rare animals to traverse the country in tight cages by train

constitutes cruelty by itself.

In April, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the

Fund for Animals and the Animal Welfare Institute sued the circus under the

Federal Endangered Species Act to stop it from using elephants altogether.

Ringling Brothers emerged victorious when a federal judge determined that

the groups did not have standing to bring the suit.

Now Ringling Brothers contends that animal welfare advocates who are biased

against the circus are improperly using their limited police powers under

state law to bring criminal charges against Mr. Gebel.

" These are not law-enforcement people, " said Jim McMannis, Mr. Gebel's

lawyer. " This is a private organization that has an agenda and the power to

bring someone before the court. "

Christine Benninger, the executive director of the Humane Society of Santa

Clara Valley, the group that originally filed the charges, dismissed any

suggestion of impropriety, noting that its inspectors were just as concerned

with catching runaway animals as they were with spotting abuse.

In California, as in some other states, investigators for groups like the

humane society have the power to issue citations and file charges for crimes

against animals. Those charges can then be pursued by local prosecutors.

" We're here to enforce the law, " Ms. Benninger said, " and that's basically

all we're doing. "

Two years ago the society tried to have charges brought against Ringling

Brothers after its inspectors noticed cuts and scars behind the elephants'

ears as they marched into a show. Because no one actually saw any abuse take

place, though, the district attorney refused to press charges.

This time both a San Jose police sergeant and a humane society inspector

said they saw Mr. Gebel yell at the elephants and lunge at them with the

hook, called an ankus, according to court records.

" I could see the pink fleshy part of her skin where it had been gouged out, "

said Christine Franco, the inspector who cited Mr. Gebel.

With witnesses to support the charges, Carolyn Powell, a Santa Clara County

deputy district attorney, took the case.

In filings, Mr. Gebel's lawyers argued that the " nickel-size red bloody

spot " that appeared on the elephant's leg disappeared after being washed,

leaving no trace of a wound.