Friday, Nov. 1, 2002 | 9:42 a.m.
When the circus comes to town this weekend it will be greeted by protesters upset over the circus's use of animals.
Linda Faso, a Las Vegas animal rights activist, organized past protests against circuses and she is planning another for Saturday, just before the first of Sterling & Reid Bros. 3-Ring Circus' six shows this weekend at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Faso said circus animals, in particular elephants, are beaten, kept in small cages, and generally mistreated by their circus handlers.
"It's wonderful for everyone but the animals," she said. "I'm protesting the whole idea of having animals in circuses."
Representatives of the circus said they expect the protesters to show up when the circus does, but disagreed that the animals are mistreated.
"They say the same thing over and over about every circus," Sterling & Reid Bros. Office Manager Tricia Conner said. "The animals are healthy and happy ... We don't promote animal cruelty."
Debbie Leahy of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has cited Sterling & Reid Bros. more than 70 times in the last three years for violating the Animal Welfare Act. Most of the violations were minor, she said, but an elephant handler working with Sterling & Reid Bros. was convicted of cruelty to animals after beating an elephant in Norfolk, Va., in August.
Conner said PETA has dwelled on the Norfolk incident. She said the circus has since dropped the company that provided the elephant and handler. In general, circuses lease elephants and their handlers from other companies, she said.
Sterling & Reid Bros., which is based in Sarasota, Fla., now leases four elephants from another company. Conner said she couldn't remember the name of the company, but they were put in contact with the company by the Carson & Barnes Circus.
Alfrieda Wilkins of Carson & Barnes said the elephants do belong to Carson & Barnes, which is based in Hugo, Okla., and was the subject of an undercover PETA video.
The video, which Conner said was shot in 1999, shows a Carson & Barnes elephant handler training others.
The video shows people prodding elephants with what is identified as an electric prod, an elephant being struck with a long pole, and the trainer telling the trainees to hit the elephants and "sink" a metal hook into the animals to get their attention.
"Don't touch 'em. Hurt 'em," the handler says in the video.
The video also shows bears in small cages, and a person using a blowtorch to burn the hair off an elephant.
While the handler said "some stupid things," he didn't abuse the elephants, Wilkins said.
"If you actually look (at the video), the very tame actions don't match the words," she said.
Also, until a few years ago it was standard in the industry to use a blowtorch to remove an elephant's hair, and it didn't seem to bother the elephants, she said. Now the hair is left on the elephants, which are given baths more often, she said.
The bears, Wilkins said, were filmed while they were in their travel cages, and they were soon moved to a larger pen.
The Agriculture Department, which enforces the Animal Welfare Act, currently has open investigations into both Sterling & Reid Bros. and Carson & Barnes, USDA spokeswoman Hallie Pickhardt said. She would not comment on any aspect of either investigation.
Windy Lawson, a spokeswoman for the Thomas & Mack Center, said she was unaware of any allegations of animal mishandling against the circus, and said she has not seen the PETA video.
Protesters often show up for any event involving animals, such as circuses and rodeos, she said. The protesters usually stay near the entrance to the facility, along the sidewalk on Swenson Street, she said.
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