Althouse: "Animal activists have been attacking our family, our company, and our employees for decades because they oppose animals in circuses."

December 29, 2012

"Animal activists have been attacking our family, our company, and our employees for decades because they oppose animals in circuses."

"These defendants attempted to destroy our family-owned business with a hired plaintiff who made statements that the court did not believe.... This settlement is a vindication not just for the company but also for the dedicated men and women who spend their lives working and caring for all the animals with Ringling Bros. in the face of such targeted, malicious rhetoric."

The ASPCA pays $9.3 million to get out of this case, which continues against the other defendants, the Humane Society of the United States, the Fund for Animals, Animal Welfare Institute, Animal Protection Institute United with Born Free USA, various lawyers, and a former Ringling employee named Tom Rider.

54 comments:

Quaestor said...: Too bad the worst offender in the "animal rights" racket isn't among the defendants.

These organizations do good work -- sometimes. Maybe cooler heads will finally prevail.; 12/29/12, 8:45 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: As is so frequently the case, there are plenty of clowns on both sides of the "v."; 12/29/12, 8:51 AM
edutcher said...: Good for them.

The bunny-huggers are as bad as the tree-huggers.; 12/29/12, 8:58 AM
KCFleming said...: Time to pitch rhhardin's recommendation to Althouse readers.

Vicki Hearne' s book Bandit explains the mendacity and nihilism of the ASPCA and similar groups.

The only bad part is that the cover makes you think it's a Lifetime channel presentation.; 12/29/12, 8:59 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: The worm turns!; 12/29/12, 9:02 AM
iowan2 said...: These organizations exist only for the monetary rewards to the executives. Low information people want to believe they do good work. But like a lot of charities (80%?) these scam artists spend less than 10% of their donations coming in for their cause. The rest is executive salaries.

I limit my contributions to the Salvation Army and my LOCAL Boy Scouts. Although the National organization is much leaner than any other service organization.; 12/29/12, 9:04 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I am with Iowan2. I limit my donations to the Salvation Army, USO and a few local charities and schools.; 12/29/12, 9:09 AM
Chef Mojo said...: Just think of how many dogs and cats that $9.3 million could have cared for.

This was a fight that the ASPCA should not have picked. I'm a big supporter of our local chapter, and our cat was adopted from there. I'm glad to see the national chapter has crawled out from under this, but the cost is enormous.; 12/29/12, 9:11 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I think Ringling Bros use of any animal in a circus is a shame. These animals are forced to perform and live in cages. How humans can find that entertaining is beyond me.; 12/29/12, 9:16 AM
SGT Ted said...: Most of the "non-profits" have morphed into leftwing money harvesting scams, meant to provide them and their campesinos with relatively work-free jobs for life, not dependent on producing any actual goods or service. They are, rather, a money suck on society at both ends, getting donation money that could be better used to help human beings while using lawfare to intimidate and loot money from other, actually productive enterprises and redistribute it to themselves and their favored causes.; 12/29/12, 9:17 AM
Big Mike said...: $9.3M would have taken care of a lot of animals that genuinely need it, particularly animals whose owners have been forced to give up their pets due to economic disasters like being laid off. You'd think that the people working for the ASPCA would feel guilty over every animal they put down that could have been kept alive a little longer with that $9.3M.

I'm sure you'd be wrong. Feeling guilty requires a conscience; activists have no such thing.; 12/29/12, 9:21 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I do agree the left are masters at turning non-profits into top heavy/corrupt money sucking machines. However, I don't think it is accurate to vilify every Humane Society or ASPCA and assert they don't care and protect domesticated animals. Local shelters are full all around the country and that has more to do with 1) the economy 2) unnecessary cruel over-breading.

Ringling Bros. have deep pockets and a lobby, too.; 12/29/12, 9:34 AM
xnar said...: They use sad eyed puppies and emaciated cats on TV to pull your heartstrings to get a $50 donation.

I see the money is going to feed the sharks.; 12/29/12, 9:36 AM
xnar said...: April...

The circus lobby? Oh, you mean Joe Biden? I hear he has deep connections to the clown community.; 12/29/12, 9:38 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: xnar - That's the clown car/ big shoe/big mouth lobby. and it just got a raise.; 12/29/12, 9:45 AM
KCFleming said...: @AprilApple
The actions of the national representatives of the ASPCA have sullied the reputations of all those local chapters.

And this loss will not stop them. So supporting the local chapters remains a problem. My wife stopped volunteering there when the locals became overbearing in their politics.

They need to be neutered.; 12/29/12, 9:47 AM
Michael K said...: "Blogger AprilApple said...

I think Ringling Bros use of any animal in a circus is a shame. These animals are forced to perform and live in cages. How humans can find that entertaining is beyond me."

Yes, they'd be much better off in the wild where the ivory poachers can get at them.; 12/29/12, 9:50 AM
SGT Ted said...: The locals are adpoting the insanity of the National. Our locals shelter went to "no kill" and now there's no room and a guaranteed money suck to care for all those animals.

The result? More abandoned animals, because the shelter has no room.

Way to go guys!; 12/29/12, 9:54 AM
sakredkow said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/29/12, 10:20 AM
sakredkow said...: Yes, they'd be much better off in the wild where the ivory poachers can get at them.

No "Live free or die" for you, eh?; 12/29/12, 10:21 AM
Bryan C said...: I won't even credit the ASPCA with good intentions, anymore. They're just another faction of statists looking for an excuse to lord arbitrary power over other people they don't personally like.

It's sad when formerly good organizations sell out and abandon their mission. I supported The Nature Conservancy for years because the money I sent them actually went to do useful things. Then they turned into yet another puppet lobbying group, directing efforts away from private land conservation toward useless global warming advocacy, and using my money to buy laws to coerce other people and take land that was not for sale. I stopped donating.; 12/29/12, 10:27 AM
Bryan C said...: "How humans can find that entertaining is beyond me."

I'm sorry you find most of your fellow humans so difficult to comprehend.

Anyway, if you want to buy zoo animals from their owners at a fair price and then provide for them, I'm sure your offers will be of interest. If you want to take them away without compensation and euthanize them until they're happier - as usually happens - then you should expect opposition.; 12/29/12, 10:33 AM
Methadras said...: I oppose animals in circuses too, but if I try to sue the Democrat Party, it never works.; 12/29/12, 10:54 AM
Methadras said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/29/12, 10:54 AM
Methadras said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/29/12, 10:54 AM
CWJ said...: Bryan C, please tell me more or send me a link to illustrate your point about the nature conservancy.

My wife and I have supported them for years because their approach made sense to us. Are you saying their mission has significantly changed?; 12/29/12, 10:58 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I like how at the end of the article is an ad and website promotion for Ringling Bros.; 12/29/12, 11:01 AM
Tom Locker said...: Isn't Ringling the defendant in this case?; 12/29/12, 11:03 AM
Goju said...: @April 2)..."overbreading" A constant worry for any dong in the WH.; 12/29/12, 11:07 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: "over-breeding"; 12/29/12, 11:19 AM
lemondog said...: AprilApple said...

I think Ringling Bros use of any animal in a circus is a shame. These animals are forced to perform and live in cages. How humans can find that entertaining is beyond me.

Agree.

I support private wildlife sanctuaries PAWS and TES which rescue elephants and other exotic animals to live as much as possible normal lives, free from chains, bull-hooks and other such devices.

Both sanctuaries have habitat cams for viewing and youtube video sites.
PAWS videos
TES Videos; 12/29/12, 11:41 AM
Jim said...: My federal agency was on the receiving end of a NEPA lawsuit brought by one of the law firms still being sued. They got their ass kicked and we're saving the taxpayers 100 M$ a year. All I can say to the circus folks is, " make the rubble bounce."; 12/29/12, 11:44 AM
Petunia said...: Organizations like the ASPCA and HSUS are NATIONAL organizations. They do NOT run local shelters or humane societies...even if the local shelter is called an "SPCA" or "humane society".

HSUS DOES do the occasional good thing when they shut down puppy mills--they work with local groups then. But overall, these national organizations exist mostly to enrich themselves.

If you want to help animals in need, please consider volunteering at and/or donating to a group in your area.; 12/29/12, 11:45 AM
Titus said...: I despise circuses with animals and zoos.

Born Free.
As Free As The Wind Blows.

Looking at a wild animal in a cage is depressing.; 12/29/12, 12:01 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Lemondog - I'd really like to visit the Elephant Sanctuary in Tenn. It cannot be easy to care for such gentle giants.

Michael K.
I spoke with a former veterinarian who travels with his wife to South Africa. They have fallen in love with it because they love the ability to watch wild animals in action. It's brutal to be sure. Animals hunt, eat, are hunted and eaten. Over and over.

I prefer that natural brutality to the cruelty of being kept in a cage and forced to perform.; 12/29/12, 12:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Too bad the former employee's name wasn't Tom Riddle.; 12/29/12, 12:28 PM
sinz52 said...: Some animal rights activists may despise zoos.

But for me, who was born and raised in New York City, the Bronx Zoo and other zoos were my only chance to see these wild animals for myself.

City kids don't have the opportunity to come in contact with wild animals. And most of them aren't from families who are affluent enough to take trips to Africa.

For me, who never traveled outside of New York until I went to college, the Bronx Zoo was both an education and an adventure.; 12/29/12, 12:33 PM
Wince said...: Furthermore, the Court ruled that "based upon his failure to complain, the Court finds that Mr. Rider either (1) did not witness elephant mistreatment when he was employed by FEI or (2) any mistreatment he did witness did not affect him to the extent that he suffered an aesthetic or emotional injury."

That's the strategic mistake the animal rights groups made.

They should have litigated against the clowns.

No laughing matter: Fear of clowns is serious issue; 12/29/12, 1:41 PM
30yearProf said...: Marvelous. There IS some Justice in the world.

It's too bad that so many elderly women are bilked into giving the family fortune to these bandits. The fakers will have enough of Granny's money to pay all the fees and still afford Bentleys. Meanwhile, BooBoo goes to the gas chamber.

I donate only to the Smile Train (82% on program services). And God Forbid, never to United Way (I resist employer coertion).; 12/29/12, 1:57 PM
30yearProf said...: Marvelous. There IS some Justice in the world.

It's too bad that so many elderly women are bilked into giving the family fortune to these bandits. The fakers will have enough of Granny's money to pay all the fees and still afford Bentleys. Meanwhile, BooBoo goes to the gas chamber.

I donate only to the Smile Train (82% on program services). And God Forbid, never to United Way (I resist employer coertion).; 12/29/12, 2:01 PM
Nora said...: "These animals are forced to perform and live in cages."

So do most "pets", but people keeping pets do not think that they abuse animals, neither does
ASPCA.; 12/29/12, 2:19 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Nora,

[quoting someone upthread:]

"These animals are forced to perform and live in cages."

So do most "pets", but people keeping pets do not think that they abuse animals, neither does
ASPCA.

Oh, horsepucky. "Most pets" are neither caged nor "forced to perform." Our two cats have the run of the house (which is practically God's Own Cat Condo, consisting as it does of many levels, all carpeted), plentiful food and water and warm, dry places to sleep, and two humans eager to satisfy all their hunting instincts with the likes of laser pointers, toy mice, ribbons, and used viola strings. Being cats, of course, when they aren't eating or chasing something, they are generally asleep.

They are "caged" once a year, because our vet will not let them in the door for a checkup except in a cat carrier.; 12/29/12, 4:05 PM
n.n said...: Reason and reasonable prevails.

First, we are omnivores, which includes consumption of animal flesh and other body parts. Second, we hold dominion over animals, which means we exploit their labor in service and entertainment. Third, we are moral beings, which means we take reasonable precautions to constrain unnecessary suffering of animals subject to our influence.; 12/29/12, 4:08 PM
n.n said...: Michelle Dulak Thomson:

You enforce an exchange of liberty for submission with benefits. You can interrogate humans to know their will. You cannot presume to know the will of animals.; 12/29/12, 4:11 PM
lemondog said...: re: pets, domestic vs wild.

Elephants are wild animals and are broken in spirit order to get them to perform. Bull-hooks are used on sensitive parts of their bodies to maintain fear and order. When not performing they are kept in chains.

Traveling circuses cause suffering to exotic and wild animals

Ringling Bros. -Elephant Child Abusers-Breaking A Baby Elephant

Alec Baldwin Uncovers Elephant Abuse Under the Big Top; 12/29/12, 4:29 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: n.n.,

You enforce an exchange of liberty for submission with benefits. You can interrogate humans to know their will. You cannot presume to know the will of animals.

True enough, that last sentence; and I suppose our cats are "caged" in that we don't let them outdoors.

But where in your picture is the feral cat fed by human beings? I can presume to know the will of a cat of whom absolutely nothing is demanded, who eats food left on the doorstep: The cat wants the food. The cat would be less happy were the food not there. The cat is receiving a benefit and conceding exactly zero. Still enslavement?; 12/29/12, 5:04 PM
Anonymous said...: April Apple - that Ringling Brother ad at the bottom of YOUR browser is called Push Advertising. They're part of the little direct marketing cookies you accept and eat up in pursuit of higher knowledge thru the internet. Doi…? Doi!!; 12/29/12, 8:37 PM
Anonymous said...: Yo LemonDogster, Word to the wise! Yah gotta cite more than a bunch of links by people haters! Try googling something other than "Circuses are evil" and get back to us!; 12/29/12, 8:57 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Tank - Those who have compassion for animals are not automatically people haters.; 12/29/12, 10:28 PM
lemondog said...: "You can judge a society by the way it treats its animals" – Gandhi; 12/30/12, 6:33 AM
sabeth.chu said...: i lost all faith in animal rights activists when some years ago they asked hamburg, NY, and hamburg, germany, to change their name to veggieburg. though i think that was Peta,
any decent zoo does more for animals than these clowns do.; 12/30/12, 8:18 AM
Anonymous said...: Ahhh yes, let's trot out our "Dear Friend" Gandhi, “the one person in world who could prevent war which reduces humanity to the savage state…”
Oh dear....

http://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosiero:Gandhi_to_Hitler.jpg

Was he as wise as you believe?
Obtuse, general statements are often misconstrued.; 12/30/12, 9:24 AM
Joe said...: Once again, I call for getting rid of all the not-for-profit status laws and provisions. We should either tax all corporations and corporate type entities or none. (I favor none and taxing ALL remuneration and benefits received by employees, executives or stockholders as income [yes, even capital gains; but I would index the tax base by inflation.] This would also nicely solve the church problem.); 12/30/12, 11:45 AM
Revenant said...: The problem with the concept of animal rights is that it inevitably leads to compromises with human rights.; 12/30/12, 10:56 PM