| The Greatest Show On Earth? |
| Subj: RE: your e-mail to Ringling Bros. Date: 1/16/02 1:35:51 PM Eastern Standard Time From: AnimalCare@feldinc.com (AnimalCare) To: propertyrights@earthlink.net Thank you for your e-mail, Julie. As you might imagine, we have received an enormous number of comments about Kenneth Feld's open letter to animal rights organizations in the January 7 New York Times and Los Angeles Times, as well as his appearance on The Today Show. We appreciate your support, and we hope you'll continue to show that support by keeping the following links handy. If you find yourself discussing the issue further, please feel free to include these links in e-mail correspondence to friends, family, and online journalists, message boards, and discussion groups: The full text of Kenneth Feld's open letter: http://www.ringling.com/news/news_releases/index.asp Details about animal care at Ringling Bros.: http://www.ringling.com/AmazingAnimals/care/care.html We hope that future endeavors of animal rights groups will focus on the actual care of animals instead of wasting donation dollars to advance a politically extreme agenda. We are fortunate to share our lives with some of the world's most amazing animals, and are also blessed to be able to share this wonder with families like yours throughout the country. Thank you again for your comments and your support. We truly appreciate your interest. Sincerely, The Ringling Bros. Animal Care staff -----Original Message----- From: propertyrights@earthlink.net Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 10:42 AM Subject: Letter to Kenneth Feld's attention, please! Dear Mr. Feld, It has just been brought to my attention that you authored an open letter to PETA in which you stated your and your company's stewardship and care of circus animals. I applaud you for your courage and your honesty, sir! As mine is, I'm sure you are quite busy. I do ask you, however, to visit our property rights website at www.propertyrightsresearch.org and see the ways in which we let the public know by education and facts (truth, not fiction!!) that resource providing, of which your forte of entertainment is also recreationism, is a key tool. Are you aware of a 'white paper' on circuses and their stewardship of animals, or would you give your permission to have your letter put on our website (with full credit given) under the Resource Providers, Recreationists button? It is only through knowledge of truth that those who have been mislead by junk science, skewed 'facts' and pure fantasy 'visions', can be led to the TRUTH about us, all of us who are farmers, loggers, miners, ranchers, and recreationists! The Greatest Show on Earth! It's about time there was a corporate CEO who is willing to stand up to attacks from irresponsible extremists like the animal rights radicals!!! READ the letter below from Kenneth Feld, CEO of Feld Entertainment, which owns Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus - the Greatest Show on Earth. Ringling Brothers has frequently had trouble with animal rights activists because it uses animals in its shows - after all, it is a circus! So he has that in common with farmers and ranchers across the country, who also have to deal with these irresponsible nuts. Feld has been on several television shows personally exposing the fundraising scams of animal rights outfits, including the Today Show and Hannity and Colmes. He also exposed the fact that PETA killed over 1,000 animals last year!!! The company also ran full page ads in newspapers across the country (see below). ACTION ITEM: The schedule for this year's circus shows are listed below, or you can go to www.ringling.com and check it out and order tickets. Go to the circus - take your family, show your support for a company that is willing to take the fight to the enemy, and have a great time while you're at it! Also, at www.ringling.com, or www.feldentertainment.com, write Kenneth Feld a note and THANK him for taking the lead in fighting animal rights extremism!!! Contents of the open letter issued today: An Open Letter to Animal Rights Groups 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 * July 30, 2000, Washington Post (Associated Press) ** Sept. 29, 1997, Newsweek ( "Breaking the Cages") For more information on The Greatest Show On Earth? go to www.ringling.com ?2002 Feld Entertainment |
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