LET PETA has facts on circus elephants

On May 1, The George Carden Circus International will be held at the Mayo Civic Center.

Ever wonder how animal trainers get an 8,000-pound elephant to do outlandish stunts? Visit PETA's Web site under circus.com and witness firsthand video of some of the training methods.

Caught on tape is an elephant trainer instructing other trainers how to beat the elephants using both hands and sink a sharp metal bull hook into their flesh.

He tells them that the beatings have to be effective behind the scenes, for they, the trainers, cannot do any of this "in front of a thousand people."

Elephants spend up to 95 percent of their lives in chains. If dogs were chained this way we would call it cruelty.

Look under PETA's circus fact sheet to read about the Carden Circus' failures to meet federal standards for the care of animals used in exhibition as established in the Animal Welfare Act.

Julie; Eyrich

Rochester;