Fwd: San Francisco Examiner Blasts Circus - Pls Thank Author & Save as Reference

[Guest guest]

Fantastic piece in the Examiner:

 

Please send a short note of thanks to the author and newspaper for

writing this

excellent piece (EMail addresses appear at bottom of message.) Save

this as a reference to attach to your letters educating people about

the circus! Please forward it onto others.

 

Link and text appear below:

 

http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/default.jsp?story=op.friedland.0821w

 

Publication date: 08/21/2002

SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER

 

Animal lovers opt out of circus

 

BY NAT FRIEDLAND

Special to The Examiner

 

WHOOPEE. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is back for its

annual August circuit of the three Bay Area arenas. So here's a

helpful

message to Ringling owner Ken Feld, who inherited the " Greatest Show

on

Earth " from his father in 1984.

 

Hi, Ken:

 

Looks as if you've got spinmeisters working overtime this year --

trying to

distract the public from noticing how your " family entertainment "

involves

beating the crap out of tied-down wild animals until

they're " trained " to

stand on their heads, or dance or something equally dumb.

 

Your Ringling sales pitch this year seems especially desperate to

push the

story that jungle animals love applause and don't need to be tortured

in

order to do tricks -- despite the many thousands of dollars in fines

for

animal mistreatment that you've paid to the U.S. Department of

Agriculture.

 

This year's colorful Ringling Circus ad features the glamorous

babe " Tiger

Whisperer. " I wonder if she whispers to the tigers, " Hey pussycat, if

you

walk on your hind legs and jump through a circle of fire, I'll give

you a

kitty treat. "

 

Or maybe she tells them, " Gee, I'm sorry you have to spend your life

traveling on noisy, shaking boxcars in a cage barely big enough for

you to turn around. But look, you're a hit in show biz. "

 

Ken, I'm also not impressed by your invitation for audiences to come

early

and " visit " with some of the penned animals. For example, it wouldn't

be too

hard for your trainers to pick out a few of the older elephants that

have

been brutalized into total submission, and have them stand still

without

their usual leg chains for an hour or so, especially if you distract

them

with extra food.

 

It's time to give up on the animal acts. This is a battle you cannot

win.

Every year, more and more people figure out that circus animals

couldn't be

shipped around the country and forced to behave unnaturally without

lots of

ugly pain and fear.

 

Hey, when I was a little kid and didn't know any better, I used to go

to the

circus at Madison Square Garden in New York. Back then they had the

menagerie exhibit. At the time, it featured Gargantua, the World's

Largest Gorilla (in the World's Smallest Gorilla Cage).

 

They also had the Sideshow -- or as most people called it, the Freak

Show.

World's Fattest Woman, Smallest Midget Couple, Tallest Man, Ugliest

Hair-Covered Person, Legless and Armless People, etc.

 

Notice that the Sideshow is long gone from being featured in

Ringling's

" Greatest Show on Earth. " That's because public attitudes often do

mature

over time and gain more empathy.

 

Audiences in major U.S. markets no longer found it entertaining to

gawk at

people with birth defects or genetic deformities.

 

That's exactly where you're at, in terms of torture-driven

animal " performances. " More and more of the people you're trying to

sell

tickets to are taking their kids to Cirque du Soleil instead, because

they don't want to be creeped out by thinly disguised cruelty to

animals.

 

It's inevitable that the Ringling performing animals are going to

go ...

soon. It's not a bad thing to change along with more conscious times.

 

Why not hand over some of the money you've gained from animal

suffering and

establish a few genuine, large-acreage Ken Feld Refuge Parks for

Retired

Circus Animals, where they could live out their days in peace and

perhaps

reproduce their endangered species?

 

Ken, you're not young anymore and you have all the money you'll ever

need.

Wouldn't you rather be remembered as a man who emerged as a decent

human

being and did an excellent thing for the world -- instead of somebody

who

was hated for profiting millions from the torture of animals, for no

defensible reason?

 

Comment: letters@s... (sfexaminer.com)

Nat Friedland is copy editor of the Peninsula Independent Newspapers.

You can reach him by e-mail at natf@s... (smindependent.com)

--- End forwarded message ---

[Guest guest]

Also in same news paper is informative article on animal experiments

going on University of Calif., San Francisco.

http://www.examiner.com/news/default.jsp?story=n.ucsf.0828w

William The Scot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finance - Get real-time stock quotes

http://finance.

[Guest guest]

Three cheers for Nat Friedland. Isn't it great when a newspaper tells the truth

for a change?

-

kens_catwoman

Wednesday, August 28, 2002 9:08 PM

[sFBAVeg] Fwd: San Francisco Examiner Blasts Circus - Pls Thank

Author & Save as Reference

 

 

Fantastic piece in the Examiner:

 

Please send a short note of thanks to the author and newspaper for

writing this

excellent piece (EMail addresses appear at bottom of message.) Save

this as a reference to attach to your letters educating people about

the circus! Please forward it onto others.

 

Link and text appear below:

 

http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/default.jsp?story=op.friedland.0821w

 

Publication date: 08/21/2002

SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER

 

Animal lovers opt out of circus

 

BY NAT FRIEDLAND

Special to The Examiner

 

WHOOPEE. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is back for its

annual August circuit of the three Bay Area arenas. So here's a

helpful

message to Ringling owner Ken Feld, who inherited the " Greatest Show

on

Earth " from his father in 1984.

 

Hi, Ken:

 

Looks as if you've got spinmeisters working overtime this year --

trying to

distract the public from noticing how your " family entertainment "

involves

beating the crap out of tied-down wild animals until

they're " trained " to

stand on their heads, or dance or something equally dumb.

 

Your Ringling sales pitch this year seems especially desperate to

push the

story that jungle animals love applause and don't need to be tortured

in

order to do tricks -- despite the many thousands of dollars in fines

for

animal mistreatment that you've paid to the U.S. Department of

Agriculture.

 

This year's colorful Ringling Circus ad features the glamorous

babe " Tiger

Whisperer. " I wonder if she whispers to the tigers, " Hey pussycat, if

you

walk on your hind legs and jump through a circle of fire, I'll give

you a

kitty treat. "

 

Or maybe she tells them, " Gee, I'm sorry you have to spend your life

traveling on noisy, shaking boxcars in a cage barely big enough for

you to turn around. But look, you're a hit in show biz. "

 

Ken, I'm also not impressed by your invitation for audiences to come

early

and " visit " with some of the penned animals. For example, it wouldn't

be too

hard for your trainers to pick out a few of the older elephants that

have

been brutalized into total submission, and have them stand still

without

their usual leg chains for an hour or so, especially if you distract

them

with extra food.

 

It's time to give up on the animal acts. This is a battle you cannot

win.

Every year, more and more people figure out that circus animals

couldn't be

shipped around the country and forced to behave unnaturally without

lots of

ugly pain and fear.

 

Hey, when I was a little kid and didn't know any better, I used to go

to the

circus at Madison Square Garden in New York. Back then they had the

menagerie exhibit. At the time, it featured Gargantua, the World's

Largest Gorilla (in the World's Smallest Gorilla Cage).

 

They also had the Sideshow -- or as most people called it, the Freak

Show.

World's Fattest Woman, Smallest Midget Couple, Tallest Man, Ugliest

Hair-Covered Person, Legless and Armless People, etc.

 

Notice that the Sideshow is long gone from being featured in

Ringling's

" Greatest Show on Earth. " That's because public attitudes often do

mature

over time and gain more empathy.

 

Audiences in major U.S. markets no longer found it entertaining to

gawk at

people with birth defects or genetic deformities.

 

That's exactly where you're at, in terms of torture-driven

animal " performances. " More and more of the people you're trying to

sell

tickets to are taking their kids to Cirque du Soleil instead, because

they don't want to be creeped out by thinly disguised cruelty to

animals.

 

It's inevitable that the Ringling performing animals are going to

go ...

soon. It's not a bad thing to change along with more conscious times.

 

Why not hand over some of the money you've gained from animal

suffering and

establish a few genuine, large-acreage Ken Feld Refuge Parks for

Retired

Circus Animals, where they could live out their days in peace and

perhaps

reproduce their endangered species?

 

Ken, you're not young anymore and you have all the money you'll ever

need.

Wouldn't you rather be remembered as a man who emerged as a decent

human

being and did an excellent thing for the world -- instead of somebody

who

was hated for profiting millions from the torture of animals, for no

defensible reason?

 

Comment: letters@s... (sfexaminer.com)

Nat Friedland is copy editor of the Peninsula Independent Newspapers.

You can reach him by e-mail at natf@s... (smindependent.com)

--- End forwarded message ---