By Steven T. Jones
Former Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephant handler Tom Rider — a key witness in a landmark elephant abuse civil case and a source for the cover story expose that I wrote in August — testified today in Washington DC federal court about alleged abuse of endangered Asian elephants that he witnessed.
“He testified that during his employment at Ringling Bros., he observed the bull hook being used in a manner that caused elephants to bleed hundreds of times. He stated that all the elephants had bloody hook marks and boils at one time or another. Mr. Rider went on to testify that he complained to his supervisor and others at Ringling Bros. about the elephant mistreatment and his job was threatened as a result,” said attorney Tracy Silverman with the Animal Welfare Institute.
Rider and the other plaintiffs in the case have been harshly criticized by Ringling lawyers, so I asked Silverman how Rider fared. “Tom did well. He was on the stand for awhile facing a tough cross examination, but he hung in there and his passion and devotion for the elephants really showed,” she said.
Also expected to testify this week as an expert witness for the plaintiffs (who hope to wrap their case up by the end of the week) is Colleen Kinzley, general curator of the Oakland Zoo. The trial is expected to wrap up by the first week in March, with a verdict that could severely restrict the circus’s use of elephants.