Elephant Handlers Dodge Mistreatment Claims

Elephant Handlers Dodge Mistreatment Claims

(CN) - Animal activists lack standing to sue the owners of the country's largest collection of endangered Asian elephants, some of which perform in its famed Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, for alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act, the D.C. Circuit ruled.

In 2000, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other proponents of animal rights, including former Ringling Brothers barn helper Tom Rider, filed suit against Feld Entertainment. The complaint claimed that Feld violated the Endangered Species Act by chaining the elephants in between performances and controlling them with bullhooks, rods with a metal point and hook on one end.

The case was quickly dismissed for lack of standing, but the D.C. Circuit revived it in 2003 after concluding that the activists could establish standing with proof of the allegations.

After a six-week trial, the District Court determined the animal rights activists failed to prove their allegations because the evidence was insufficient and Rider was not a credible witness, as he joined the lawsuit only after receiving payment from the animal rights organizations.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/08/41298.htm

:)

I feel so sorry for those circus elephants. There is no doubt that they are abused.

:(