Rock Icon Reaches Out to Fair Organizers in Advance of Fair Performance
For Immediate Release:
June 9, 2011
Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382
San Diego -- The San Diego County Fair plans to offer elephant rides from Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT)—and the company's bad reputation has Joan Jett seeing red. The rock icon, who will perform at the Del Mar Fairgrounds later this month, has sent an urgent letter on PETA's behalf to fair organizers with a respectful request to remove the rides from the fair's activities. In the letter, Jett points out that recently released video footage from Animal Defenders International shows HTWT trainers repeatedly striking elephants with sharp, metal-tipped bullhooks and shocking them with electric prods. Handlers use the threat of this kind of painful punishment to control the elephants who are used for rides.
"Breaking elephants' spirits by physically and psychologically tormenting them is the only way to keep these massive, intelligent animals 'in line,'" writes Jett. "You won't see the handlers hit the elephants in public or on private tours, but the constant presence of a bullhook—a weapon the elephants associate with pain—keeps the animals intimidated and submissive." She concludes, "Please don't allow the reputation of the fair to be tarnished by its support of cruel elephant rides."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
Joan Jett's letter to Barry Nussbaum, chair of the San Diego County Fair Operations Committee, follows.
June 9, 2011
Barry Nussbaum
President, 22nd District Agricultural Association
Chair, San Diego County Fair Operations Committee
The Del Mar Fairgrounds
Re: Have Trunk Will Travel Elephant Rides
Dear Mr. Nussbaum:
I'm looking forward to visiting the San Diego area and performing at the San Diego County Fair. There is one thing troubling me, however. I've learned from my friends at PETA that you plan to offer elephant rides with animals provided by the company Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT). Because of HTWT's documented cruelty to animals, I respectfully ask that you immediately cancel the fair's contract with the company and prevent the rides from starting on Friday.
Training for elephants used for rides routinely involves beatings with sharp metal-tipped bullhooks and electric prods. Breaking elephants' spirits by physically and psychologically tormenting them is the only way to keep these massive, intelligent animals "in line." You won't see the handlers hit the elephants in public or on private tours, but the constant presence of a bullhook—a weapon the elephants associate with pain—keeps the animals intimidated and submissive. I've seen the video footage (available at http://vimeo.com/23564589), released by Animal Defenders International, that shows the owners and trainers with HTWT as they hit elephants as hard as they can with bullhooks and use electric shocks on the animals' bellies. You can hear a grown elephant who bellows in pain and a baby who cries out while being jabbed repeatedly in the mouth and hit over the head.
Please don't allow the reputation of the fair to be tarnished by its support of cruel elephant rides. I look forward to hearing your decision. I can be reached through PETA's Michelle Cho. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Joan Jett