People for the Ethical Treatments of Animals (PETA) may not yet reach its visionary goal to stop animal exploitation worldwide, but at least it has been successful in its attempt to stop the use of elephants in circus by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Barnum Circus.
PETA has long been showing concerns about exploiting elephants on circus and in response to this, in 2018, the 145-year-old Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Barnum Circus, a subsidiary company of Feld Entertainment, will start the process of ceasing on using elephants for its shows. In 2018 it will no longer use elephants at all. If they are still alive, by 2018 the circus will have moved all the 13 elephants to the company's elephant conservation center in Florida, which is currently inhabited by more than 40 elephants.
In his speaking, Kenneth Feld, Chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, stated, "This is the most significant change we have made since we founded the Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation in 1995. When we did so, we knew we would play a critical role in saving the endangered Asian elephants for future generations, given how few Asian elephants are left in the wild. ...This decision was not easy, but it is in the best interest of our company, our elephants and our customers."
Now, PETA is making its next move. It's now trying to impose ethics on a Disney film too. Upon Disney's film remaking plan on Dumbo, last Wednesday PETA's senior director Lisa Lange through his open letter to Tim Burton, the person who will do the remaking, wrote about her insisting on altering the film ending. Instead of living in environment provided by the entertainment industry, where the elephants are described by PETA as "imprisoned and abused", the elephants should have a happier ending. They should live in a sanctuary.
"We're hopeful that in your adaptation of Dumbo, the young elephant and his mother can have a truly happy ending by living out their lives at a sanctuary instead of continuing to be imprisoned and abused in the entertainment industry," said Lisa Lange stated in her letter.
