The circus is coming, the circus is coming!!
Okay so it's not that exciting, to me, but I bet your kids would be that happy if you would take them! The Ringling Brothers circus will be at the Giant Center in Hershey Wednesday May 26th through Monday May 31st. There are a bunch of different times to go, which is nice for those of us that still have napping kids, and the prices are a little bit high but you get a lot for your ticket. The highest price ticket is $75.00 and for this price you get to be a "Circus Celebrity", basically you get to participate in part of the show. But still, $75 is a LOT to pay for the circus. Then there are $30, $20 and $16 tickets, which are much more down to Earth.
Now the bonus, where you really get the best bang for your buck, if you show up 90 minutes before the show you get to visit the animals at the Animal Open House. You can visit the animals in their homes away from home. Pretty cute. Then 60 minutes before the show you can go down to the arena floor to get some autographs, meet the animals and even watch an elephant paint! All this is FREE with your ticket, so when you add up the cost of the tickets make sure you factor in the bonus hour and a half pre-show. Click the link below to find out more and do a few Google searches for coupon codes, I didn't find any right away but that doesn't mean they don't exist!
Please do not support the circus by taking your children to this event. These elephants were once babies that were torn from their mothers and had their spirits broken by being chained in a dark warehouse in Ringlings breeding facility in Florida (see circuses.com for photos). The circus prays on people who do not know what goes on behind the scenes. In 2009, PETA recorded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus employees for many months and in numerous
ReplyDeleteU.S. states. Eight employees, including the head elephant trainer and the animal superintendent, were videotaped
backstage repeatedly hitting elephants in the head, trunk, ears, and other sensitive body parts with bullhooks and other
cruel training devices just before the animals would enter the arena for performances. (A bullhook is an elephanttraining
tool that resembles a fireplace poker.) A tiger trainer was videotaped beating tigers during dress rehearsals.
Footage from the investigation can be viewed at RinglingBeatsElephants.com.
Former Ringling employees have reported that elephants are routinely abused and violently beaten with bullhooks. In
December 2009, PETA released dozens of photographs taken by a retired Ringling trainer named Sam Haddock. The
photos reveal the violent training methods used on baby elephants at Ringling’s Polk City, Florida, training center. The
photos, which are available at RinglingBeatsAnimals.com, depict baby elephants bound with ropes and wrestled into
physically difficult and uncomfortable positions by several adult men. According to Haddock’s notarized statement, the
elephants scream, cry, and struggle as they are stretched out, slammed to the ground, gouged with bullhooks, and
shocked with electric prods. According to him, these violent training methods are the only way an elephant can be
trained to perform in circuses.