PETA Offers Animatronic Elephant to Ringling Bros.

A real elephant being forced to perform a headstand in the Ringling Bros. circus.
Photo by Scott Wintrow / Getty Images.

PETA has offered to purchase an animatronic elephant for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus if the circus retires all of its live performing elephants. The elephant would be similar to the animatronic dinosaurs used in the live show, "Walking with Dinosaurs." In their October 22, 2008 letter to Nicole Feld of Feld Entertainment, which owns Ringling Bros., PETA writes:

The use of animatronics would also guarantee a successful performance every night and eliminate any dangers or surprises that come with training powerful animals. The real elephants would, of course, be spared tiring, uncomfortable, and even painful lives in chains and perpetual servitude.

This offer comes on the eve of the Ringling Bros. trial, which begins on October 27. A former Ringling Bros. employee, along with the Animal Welfare Institute and other animal protection organizations, are suing Ringling Bros. for mistreatment of Asian elephants, in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

I would love to see animatronic elephants replace real elephants in circuses, but we all know that Ringling Bros. is not going to accept PETA's offer. And frankly, given the company's history of animal abuse, I wouldn't want PETA to give them a gift worth thousands of dollars. Ringling Bros. can certainly afford to buy their own animatronic elephant when they are ready.