ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 10, 1996 TAG: 9608120054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
HOW HUMANELY are exotic animals treated when they are trundled from town to town to be part of circuses and sideshow acts? The Los Angeles County Health Department and animal rights activists are trying to find out.
The circus elephant, one of the nation's most venerable entertainers, is back in the spotlight again after two died during Circus Vargas' Los Angeles run.
The elephants died this week, prompting an investigation by federal health officials and renewing one of the biggest controversies under the Big Top: How humanely are exotic animals treated when they are trundled from town to town to be part of circuses and sideshow acts?
Hattie and Joyce, two Asian pachyderms that took children for rides as recently as last week, were believed to have died of tuberculosis, a disease that can be passed from elephants to human beings, health officials said. Both elephants performed up until they died.
At the request of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Circus Vargas agreed to stop using its three remaining elephants until officials can determine whether they, too, have contracted the disease.
``The risks to exposure from casual contact is quite low,'' said Dr. Shirley Fannin, the county's director of disease control.
Children who rode the elephant do not need testing, she said.
Animal rights activists pointed to the elephants' deaths as flagrant examples of the types of abuse that occur regularly with elephants, tigers and other animals that are transported sometimes thousands of miles in cramped cages and trailers.
``We're absolutely outraged at the insensitivity and the greed ... on the part of people who run Circus Vargas,'' said Dan Mathews of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, one of the nation's largest animal rights organizations. ``These sad elephant deaths should ring an alarm for anybody with respect for animals to avoid animal circuses. Animal circuses simply teach children it's OK to whip, chain and beat another living being for our amusement.''
Deborah Famiglietti, a volunteer with Education and Action for Animals, based in Redondo Beach, said circus elephants spend much of their time in shackles or in travel trailers that are neither heated nor air-conditioned. Often, they're not given food or water before performances ``to avoid untimely excrement,'' she said.
Simone Finner, a longtime Hollywood agent who represents circus performers, said 49 of the 50 traveling circuses that criss-cross the United States use elephant acts. If they didn't, probably most of them would close, she said.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB