The elephant is one of the smartest animals alive on our earth. In a recent study conducted in Thailand, one elephant was given a task only two working together could complete. Not only did all the elephants participating solve the problem and complete the task, two of the youngest elephants discovered new and easier ways to complete the task that researchers had never considered. They also create incredibly complex social groups and mourn the death of family members as humans do, crying and embracing one another in support and shared grief. They are known for their deep compassion, and some scientists now consider elephants one of the most cognitively advanced animals in existance, along with chimpanzees and dolphins. Unfortunately, this incredibly intelligent and passionate animal is currently in great danger. I'm not talking about poachers or ivory carvers. I'm talking about something here at home, something some children wait all year to enjoy: the circus. 

       Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus was born in 1919, appearing for the first time as a full show in Madison Square Garden. In 1926, John Ringling, one of the Ringling brothers, was recognized as one of the richest men alive. Three years later, after an audience member was killed during a parade in Texas, John ordered the public execution of bull elephant Black Diamond. Twenty men shot almost 200 bullets into his body, then his head was chopped off and mounted for the entire town to see. Californians continue to financially support the immense wealth of the circus group, and the cruelty has only gotten worse. 

         For an average of 26 hours straight, elephants are transported in filthy, poorly ventilated boxcars only big enough for them to stand in. During training, elephants are violently stabbed with bull prods (imagine a fireplace tool with a shark spike and the pointed hook) and wipped in the face and bodies repeatedly. After years of trauma, isolation, and abuse, many elephants begin swaying from side to side as a form of depressed self-soothing. This has never observed in the wild. 

       Undercover PETA investigators have recovered footage of elephants too young for breeding being inseminated, then ripped from their young before they can even touch or smell them. In 1992, one young elephant had to experience the trama of landing on a cement floor seconds after birth and being torn away from his mother. Ricardo was destroyed eight months later, after his back legs were broken falling from a performance platform he was forced to stand on. Since 2000, Ringling has been cited numerous times by the USDA for things like causing trauma and stress, unsanitary feeding practices, and unadequate vetenary care for injured and ailing animals. In 2012, an elephant was destroyed because his premature, untreated arthritis no longer allowed him to stand. 

        Elephants are not the only victims. In 2004, a lion suffered a heart attack during a trip in an unventilated box car across California's Mojave Desert. In 2012, a security guard reported unprovoced beating of dogs and elephants and insufficient space provided for large animals (which causes stress and abnormal behavior). This report, after being loudly pushed by PETA, prompted an official investigation by the USDA.

         Despite this investigation and numerous like it in the past, Ringling Bros. is very popular across the world. Parents are taking their children to see animals performing as slaves, unknowingly funding the abuse. California cannot take part in this atrocity. I ask you to sign this petition and request our state government ban Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus from performing in or traveling through our state while they still employ animals in their company. We have a duty to ourselves to stop the abuse and slaughter of animals who love just as much as we do, and (as we are most known for) present ourselves as an example to other states and younger generations. 

Thank You