PETA Says Thanks For Circus No-Show

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has written to Rio Rancho city councilors, the mayor and city attorney thanking them for preventing the circus from coming to town.

The animal activist organization is also hoping to keep the show from going on next month at Albuquerque’s Tingley Coliseum.

The group has sent a letter to Dan Mourning, general manager of Expo New Mexico, which operates Tingley, urging him not to allow the performances.

Animal Protection of New Mexico has also written to Mourning and to Gov. Susana Martinez asking them to prohibit the show.

PETA’s Monday letter to Rio Rancho officials applauded the city’s “wise and compassionate ordinance” for language that prohibits them from issuing a permit to traveling animal acts that have been cited for or settled violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act in recent years.

Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus paid $270,000 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in November to settle allegations of violations. A USDA news release said the amount was the highest recorded.

Inspection reports referred to in the settlement document included concerns about a 54-year-old female elephant with a chronic infection and elephant transport compartments that contained protrusions that could harm the animals.

The circus was scheduled for five performances June 1-3 at the Santa Ana Star Center, which will now lose $28,000 in estimated revenue. Star Center management hoped the city could amend the ordinance to allow the performances but the city attorney advised against it.

Feld subsequently announced plans to hold the performances at Tingley Coliseum.

Expo spokesman Michael Henningsen said Wednesday that a contract with Feld has not been signed yet.

PETA’s letter to Mourning, also sent on Monday, urged him to adhere to an Albuquerque animal ordinance that prohibits the use of prods and to decline to allow the circus to perform at Tingley.

Henningsen has said Tingley falls under state law, not city ordinances. Expo New Mexico sits on state land.

He declined to comment on the PETA letter.