AN OPEN LETTER TO ANIMAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS

[casadiscaes]

AN OPEN LETTER TO ANIMAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS

After sitting through a trial in San Jose, California, that should never have come to court, and witnessing a senseless waste of taxpayer’s money, I am writing with the hope of appealing to your heart, your conscience, and your common sense.

Your organizations publicly claim thousands of members and tens of millions of dollars raised on behalf of animals. Yet The Associated Press* reported that in 1999, PeTA confiscated 2,103 pets and killed 1,325 of them. Did PeTA appeal to its members for homes? How much, if any, of its more than $15 million in resources did PeTA spend on their care? How much money raised by PeTA and like-minded groups was spent on creating politically motivated lawsuits, violent and sexually titillating ads, publicity stunts, and support of politically extreme groups such as the Animal Liberation Front** (listed as a terrorist organization by the F.B.I.), as well as traveling people around the country to harass those with whom they disagree?

I am appealing to you to use the millions you raise from your well-intentioned members to positively affect the lives of animals who are starving, ill, overpopulating, and dying in habitats that can no longer support them. Instead, your resources are being spent attacking Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®and other responsible organizations such as licensed zoos and aquariums who care for, raise, live, work, and play with their endangered animal partners under carefully regulated laws enforced by the United States Department of Agriculture. Your millions of dollars could be so much better spent in the care of animals in real distress, rather than manipulating well-meaning hearts and minds into believing that there is a "wild" which, in reality, no longer exists.

People need to know the truth. It’s disingenuous at best to suggest that endangered animals should be put back in the wild, and very destructive to the cause of conservation at worst. They are dying out there. A wild environment is far from peaceful for endangered species. For example, Asian elephants have dwindled to a worldwide population of less than 50,000 because of poaching and competition with humans for resources and food. Experts believe they may disappear entirely if conservation and breeding efforts are not more successful. This is why Ringling Bros. has established the Center for Elephant Conservation, one of the most successful breeding programs for Asian elephants in the world. We are proud to say we have had 12 babies in the last 9 years, with 3 more on the way in 2002. We spend our resources directly working with worldwide partners to breed, study, and care for these highly endangered animals.

Isn’t it time to paint the full picture in your fundraising drives? Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey does not take animals out of the wild, and we have not done so for over 26 years, following the introduction of the CITES treaty in 1975. The truth is no one is more concerned with the well-being of animals than Ringling Bros. We have a lifelong emotional and financial commitment to our Asian elephant partners. Animals who are born in the care of humans, grow up with humans, and live with humans are comfortable working with humans. Our animal partners are healthy, well cared for, and content, and we know that because we have individual relationships with each and every one of them.

We urge you to develop relationships with individual animals as we do, and to spend your dollars and efforts caring for them as individuals. Use your money and resources where they are needed most, and stop targeting responsible animal care providers for political reasons.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Feld
Chairman and Producer
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

http://www.ringling.com/weekly/EZine134a.htm