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WILKES-BARRE — Silvie Pomicter, President of Voice of the Animals Friday said her organization intends to keep protesting and educating patrons about circus animal cruelty until all animals are removed from circuses and resting in wildlife sanctuaries.
Ringling Bros. recently reported they will be retiring their elephants by 2018.
“We hope Ringling is sincere and not just playing the public,” Pomicter said. “If they were serious they would retire the elephants today to wildlife sanctuaries or PAWS – Performing Animals Welfare Society — now and not wait 3 more years.”
Pomicter said by waiting three years, more baby elephants will be “forcefully stolen from their mothers, beaten, shocked, have food withheld from them until they learn these stupid tricks to entertain humans for 3 more years.”
Pomicter said elephants aren’t the only circus animals that should be retired.
“What about all the lions, tigers and other beautiful wild animals who live in Ringling’s box carts — usually a 5-foot by 5 foot space often called “Beast Wagons” and are carted all over the country by train all year long?” Pomicter asked. “Normally in the wild these animals would be with their families and are known to travel 50 to 100 miles a day. The only time these unfortunate animals come out in circuses is to do stupid tricks for humans, the rest of the time they live in these boxes. They perform these tricks out of fear and intimidation, and knowing what will happen to them if they don’t perform these tricks.”
Pomicter said Wilkes-Barre residents would run screaming from the big top if they knew how baby elephants are treated.
“They are violently forced to perform difficult, confusing, and sometimes painful tricks,” she said. “Since children love animals, the last place that parents and grandparents should take them to is the circus.”