Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- April 24, 1998
Ringling Bros., PETA face off in legal circus
By Jennifer Harper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Bring on the clowns, and the lawyers, too. It's one circus vs. another. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows Inc. has finally had it with the folks who have turned animal rights activism into performance art.
Thursday, the Virginia-based entertainment group filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., against People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
This time, PETA members didn't throw fake blood at women in fur coats or chain themselves to animal cages. Instead, the group launched ringlingbrothers.com -- a World Wide Web site devoted solely to big-top bashing.
Visitors find headlines like "Ringling charged by feds over elephant's death" and are urged to write the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Sears, which sponsors the circus.
The real Ringling Bros. Web site -- ringling.com -- has sections devoted to animal welfare, training and care. There is reassuring information on vitamin-enriched food, clean stalls, specially designed railroad cars, tiger cages with foldout verandas and a retirement home for elephants in Florida.
"These extremists have stolen our most valued corporate asset --the good name of Ringling Bros. --to deceive the public," said corporate counsel Julie Strauss Thursday.
The circus has charged PETA with a violation of trademark laws and with misappropriating its trade name on the Internet.
The lawsuit is all just part of the show, PETA counters.
"This is all just a way to distract the public from some very real charges," said Ingrid Newkirk, PETA president.
On April 16, the USDA charged Ringling with violating the Animal Welfare Act after Kenny, a 3-year-old orphaned and ailing pachyderm, died in his tracks after his third performance in one day.
"We heard from a Ringling whistleblower in late January," said Miss Newkirk. "We were told this poor elephant was wailing as he was forced to perform. We requested a USDA investigation, and they later verified the incident."
The lawsuit is not meant to camouflage the charges, the circus said.
"We've been investigating the Web site since it went up a month ago," said Ringling spokeswoman Catherine Ort-Mabry. "We're acting against a trademark violation. This has nothing to do with the USDA charges, which we have already rebutted. It's just ironic timing."
Meanwhile, the PETA Web site gets down to the nitty-gritty, even citing a passage from "The Asian Elephant Regional Stud Book," which "shows that the majority of Ringling's elephants were captured in the wild," rather than bred in captivity.
Others have been on Ringling's case as well. Action for Animals and Performing Animals Welfare Society are also urging folks to write the USDA. Last month, Maryland Republican Delegate John Morgan presented a bill before the state legislature's House Judiciary Committee to prohibit use of animals in entertainment.
Last year, activists from Compassion Over Killing managed to blockade the sole animal entrance to Washington's D.C. Armory, delaying a Ringling performance for an hour.
While PETA attorneys ready a response to the lawsuit, the staff continues its cyberspace quest.
"We've got enough dirt on them to update the Web site every day," said Miss Newkirk. "And if they had a problem, they could have just called us. Instead, they're coming after us with a big stick."Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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