Former Elephant Trainer Blows Whistle on Ringling Bros. Circus December 23, 2009
The Washington Post published a fantastic article last week on a trainer named Sammy Haddock, a retired elephant trainer who worked with elephants in the circus since the mid seventies. In 1997 Mr Haddock was hired to work as a handler at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Center for Elephant Conservation.
What’s so special about Mr. Haddock? After working with elephants for 30 years and growing more and more uncomfortable with the training tactics used to turn the creatures into performers, he spoke out against the cruelty. Mr. Haddock released private pictures of the training of baby elephants, spoke about personal stories in which the brutal bull hook was used to beat the elephants, and how the babies are torn from their mothers at an early age. Think Dumbo. That scene that makes people cry.
Mr. Haddock went to PETA with his story and PETA is using it as fuel to come down hard on the circus. Read the entire story here. It’s long but well worth the read. What I love about this is that it’s not an AR person going under cover. This was a man’s livelihood. And even he knew it was wrong.
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