Dear Petra,

 I'm thrilled to tell you about a historic breakthrough. It has to do with elephants who are

beaten with bullhooks by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Feld Entertainment,

 Inc., parent company of Ringling, will now pay a penalty of $270,000 for violations of the

Animal Welfare Act dating from June 2007 to August 2011. It is the biggest penalty paid by

a circus in the history of the United States.

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Since June 2007, PETA has spent every year taking formal complaints about Ringling

to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We have met with members of the agency's

Office of the General Counsel and provided ample evidence of Ringling's abuse,

including the death of a baby elephant, the beating of elephants, the killing of a lion,

the circus's use of crippled elephants, and more.

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Of course, PETA cannot rest until all the elephants are freed from their lives of servitude.

Elephants used in circuses are torn away from their families, chained, dragged from city to

city in boxcars, and forced under threat of bullhook beatings to perform repetitive tricks.

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Please help: There is more that you can do to help animals abused in circuses today. I

urge you to share the heartbreaking photos of baby elephants who are bound with ropes,

shocked with electric prods, and jabbed with sharp-tipped bullhooks with your friends and

 family now. After they see Ringling's cruelty, please ask them to join you in pledging never

to go to a circus that uses animals.

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With the help of compassionate people like you, we can put an end to the suffering of

elephants, tigers, and other animals who are beaten and forced to perform.

Kind regards,



Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals