'An elephant standing on its head is not a natural thing for it to do,' Dave Wenhold said. Circus lobby takes on animal activists

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey are launching a counter attack on Capitol Hill, where animal rights activists, like Bob Barker, are pushing a bill that would ban the circus from featuring Asian elephants in their traveling shows.

The company sent “fans of the circus” an email on Wednesday encouraging them to tell their member of Congress not to support the measure. The email included a link to an electronic form on the Ringling website.


“Really, you could say this is a bill to put Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey out of business,” said Stephen Payne, vice president of corporate communications for Feld Entertainment, which produces the Ringling Bros. show. “I think regardless of where or how the bill is written or anything, it’s an attempt to outlaw circuses.”

The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and being pushed by two animal rights groups, Animal Defenders International and the Performing Animal Welfare Society. They point to circus shows like Cirque du Soleil, which rely entirely on human performers, as the model for the way that Ringling and other productions that utilize animals can successfully give up the practice.

“We’re looking at a very narrow focus on the worst abuse of wild animals,” said Matt Rossell, campaign director for ADI. “The fact is traveling circuses, by virtue of the fact that they’re constantly moving, it’s impossible to meet the basic needs of these animals.”

Rossell said that the group expects more members, in addition to the original nine co-sponsors, to sign on to the bill in the coming weeks, including many from the 84-member Congressional Animal Protection Caucus.

Last week, flanked by celebrities like Barker of “The Price is Right” and Jorja Fox, known for her role as “Sara Sidle” on CSI, Moran introduced the bill saying that it was a product of “mounting video and photographic evidence” showing that circuses can’t provide the “proper living conditions for these exotic animals.”

Dave Wenhold, a lobbyist for Animal Defenders International, said they’re getting traction.

“An elephant standing on its head is not a natural thing for it to do,” Wenhold said. “They may look at this [bill] and say there’s also a tie-in with what happened in Ohio.”

Ringling Bros., the most significant lobbying force on circus issues in Washington, has seen this movie before. A similar bill that would restrict the use of exotic animals in circuses was introduced, and defeated, in 1999. And circus animals are a constant target for animal protection groups like ADI and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

So far this year the company has spent $200,000 on their lobbying in Washington through their in-house government affairs office and outside firms.

Payne declined to talk about the lobbying efforts Feld would mount in response to the bill, but he did say that the company takes the bill “very, very seriously.”