By Steven T. Jones
New video footage secretly taped by a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals who went undercover with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus earlier this year strongly reinforces accusations that circus employees routinely abuse the endangered Asian elephants in their care.
That accusation is at the center of landmark lawsuit that went to trial earlier this year and was the subject of an award-winning expose that I wrote for the Guardian last year, “Dirty secrets under the big top.” The trial, which will continue in Washington DC federal court July 28, could result in elephants no longer appearing in Ringling Bros. shows.