The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) recently agreed to pay (that’s right PAY) $9.3 million to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus over unproven claims brought by the ASPCA that the Circus abused elephants.
Way back in 2000 the ASPCA sued the Circus claiming there was elephant abuse, a court dismissed the claim in 2001 but the ASPCA brought the complaint back in 2003, in 2009 a court cleared the Circus again.
Now clearly no one wants any form of animal abuse and I, for one, haven’t been to a circus with animals since I was about 5 (which was a very long time ago indeed). I want to make sure that there are people and entities watching for potential mistreatment, but I also want the to make reasonable decisions about when to run to the courts. I don’t know the back story here and don’t know if the ASPCA tried to talk to the Circus about their concerns etc., to bring about change without resorting to litigation – but I do know that $9.3 million dollars buys a heck of a lot of food and veterinary care and could result in a whole lot of animals having a much better life.
Thanks for reading!