Video Shows Beating and Electro-Shocking of Baby and Grown Elephants, Yet 'Have Trunk Will Travel' Hired to Give Elephant Rides
For Immediate Release:
June 7, 2012
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
San Diego -- PETA, Animal Defenders International (ADI), and the Animal Protection and Rescue League (APRL) are up in arms over the San Diego County Fair's decision to hire Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT) for elephant rides at this year's event. In a letter sent today, the groups are calling on fair organizers to follow the decent, kind, and public safety–minded decisions of the Orange County Fair, the Los Angeles County Fair, and the Santa Ana Zoo by ending their affiliation with notorious elephant abuser. After ADI's release of video footage last year that documented that adult and baby elephants cried out in pain as HTWT trainers repeatedly struck them with sharp metal-tipped bullhooks and shocked them with electric prods, numerous venues severed all ties with the company. But despite appeals by San Diego residents, world-renowned elephant experts, and more than 15,000 people who have written to the fair organizers, the San Diego County Fair has decided to go ahead with the criticized rides. Holding signs that read, "Stop Cruel Elephant Rides," representatives of PETA, ADI, and APRL will gather at the fairgrounds on Saturday, June 9, to protest the San Diego County Fair's support of elephant abuse:
When: Saturday, June 9, 12 noon to 2 p.m.
Where: Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar
"By hiring this shoddy outfit, San Diego County Fair organizers might as well be wielding the bullhooks and electric shock prods themselves," says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. "Knowing what was done to these captive elephants and all that they are deprived of, it's outrageous in this day and age to use them for a few bucks and to ignore the San Diego–area citizens who object to animal abuse."
PETA, ADI, and APRL's letter to the San Diego County Fair is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org, AD-International.org, and APRL.org.