Taking the Elephant Out of the Room

WASHINGTON – On a fall Tuesday, more than 100 people dressed in gray sweatsuits gathered on the U.S. Capitol lawn. For about an hour, in 35-degree weather, they lay down in the shape of an elephant to protest inhumane treatment of the animal.

One man was not hitting the grass, though – a guy sporting a black beanie with the word “Animal” scrawled on the front. As an outreach coordinator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, the 35-year-old was busy working – supplying hand warmers for the cold, positioning the group for photographs and sprinting to get coffee for reporters.

It’s all part of the job for the PETA employee who introduces himself as Dan Carron, but whose driver’s license says otherwise. In 2011, the Clarkston, Michigan, native wanted to make a statement, so he legally changed his first name to circuseshurtanimals.com.

“It’s a really cool way to raise awareness,” he says after the event, sitting at a nearby Native Foods Café, a casual vegan restaurant.

Carron also raises awareness by coordinating protests like this one, intended to pressure the U.S. Department of Agriculture to confiscate circus elephants and place them in safe sanctuaries.

The animal rights nonprofit – the self-proclaimed largest of its kind in the world, with 3 million members and supporters – opposes practices ranging from factory farming to animal testing, with about a quarter of its resources going toward efforts to ban the use of animals for entertainment purposes. According to PETA, part of that campaign focuses on admonishing circus companies for hauling animals around the nation under stressful conditions.

Carron’s job largely consists of planning protests against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, a circus company that uses Asian elephants as the centerpiece of its shows. He believes that out of all of PETA’s issues, this animal rights cause is one the group has a realistic chance of conquering soon.

“The cause and this campaign has really picked up a lot of steam because of the grass-roots activism that has been going on,” Carron says between bites of vegan nachos. “Every time a circus rolls into town anywhere in this country now, people are protesting, with or without PETA.”

Taking Risks for the Cause

Three years ago, Carron wanted to make a bold move.

He had been an animal rights champion for more than three years. His interest began at age 25 after a series of events – watching a horse-slaughter video, overhearing his sister-in-law lie to his nephew about where chicken comes from, viewing a picture of a dead deer while eating venison jerky – prompted him to cut meat from his diet (he went vegan a few months later). Shortly afterward, he began protesting with the Southeastern Michigan Animal Rights Team (S.M.A.R.T.) in Detroit, and then decided to make a career out of it.

Soon after landing a job working in PETA’s mailroom stuffing envelopes, he decided to take his activism a step further, prompted by his participation in an elephant walk in Norfolk, Virginia, where PETA is based. For two miles, Carron walked with the elephants as part of a Ringling-sponsored tradition in which circus elephants lumber from a train station to the event venue so that spectators can view the animals up close.

Carron didn’t like what he saw: trainers using bullhooks – rods with a sharp steel hook at the end – to pierce the skin of elephants and manipulate their behavior.

“Walking with those elephants and seeing the bullhook there – seeing these gigantic, superstrong animals quote, 'in check,' because they know the threat of the bullhook is there – seeing them walk through concrete in Norfolk, Virginia, I was like, ‘I have to do something else. What else can I do?’” he says.

What he did was brainstorm a new way to reach people. During his research, he discovered that a former PETA employee had legally changed her name to cutoutdissection.com. Carron liked the idea, and decided to scrap “Dan” in favor of a name that showcased his passion for a ban on circus animals.

Once his mother offered her approval (she’s a vegetarian who’s tinkering with veganism), Carron filled out the paperwork.

Type "circuseshurtanimals.com" into a Web browser, and you’ll be redirected to a page on PETA’s site that outlines Carron’s motivation for the name change. Aside from personal satisfaction, he wanted it to be a conversation starter.

“This is giving me an opportunity where people approach me about the subject every time I cash out at a bar,” he says. “And then I get a chance to talk about why I changed my name and why I’m passionate about that cause.”

The Elephant Debate

In 2009, PETA released a shocking undercover video that showed Ringling trainers cursing at elephants and whipping them in the face, ears and body with bullhooks before they entered the circus ring. The animals flinched, cowered and made loud bellowing sounds in response.

The video prompted a strong public reaction.

Celebrities jumped on board to fight PETA’s cause, and the video played a role in an investigation by the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service into whether Ringling had violated the federal Animal Welfare Act. The law requires, among other stipulations, that minimum standards of care and treatment be provided for certain animals exhibited to the public. It specifically prohibits “physical abuse” and cautions against behavior that causes “trauma, overheating, excessive cooling, behavioral stress, physical harm or unnecessary discomfort.”

In 2011, Feld Entertainment – the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus – agreed to pay the federal government $270,000 in the largest settlement of its kind.

PETA viewed the settlement as a coup for animal rights because of the media attention it garnered, but also as a mere drop in the bucket for Feld Entertainment, a lucrative company. The group claims that Ringling and other producers continue to abuse elephants.

According to PETA, circus companies tear baby elephants away from their mothers and use the threat of force to coerce them into working, often despite ailments like arthritis and skin conditions. But Stephen Payne, vice president of corporate communications for Feld Entertainment, says his company’s elephants are cared for by a team of veterinarians who have experience working with large, exotic animals.

“We have ... a team of people who spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week caring for our animals, and foot care for elephants is of course very important,” Payne says. “We have a veterinary technician who lives on the unit with the elephants.”

Despite the settlement, PETA wants the Agriculture Department to take stronger action against circus companies that use animals. The Animal Welfare Act requires circuses to be licensed and subject to periodic inspection, but PETA believes the agency doesn’t have the resources to provide adequate inspections.

There are only about 120 inspectors in charge of reviewing animal exhibitors and dealers, according to the Agriculture Department. The agency believes this is enough to inspect facilities once a year, on average, and to make additional reviews when warranted.

“Our inspectors do a fantastic job enforcing and ensuring the Animal Welfare Act is upheld,” says Tanya Espinosa, a spokeswoman for the department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

But PETA doesn’t see it that way. That’s why it continues to educate the public and put pressure on the federal government through rallies like the one on the Capitol lawn.

“A big component is going to demonstrations at circus shows, particularly on opening days, and being there with signs that show how elephants are trained,” says Delcianna Winders, deputy general counsel for the PETA Foundation. “We also do some protests like the one on the Hill. There, the audience we’re focusing on more is the government and trying to get the government to do its job.”

Payne dismissed the Washington event as “just another PETA ploy to try and gain publicity by relying on their propaganda, rather than relying on the facts.” Since the settlement, Feld has hired a compliance officer – a former Agriculture Department official charged with evaluating Ringling’s polices and staff performance.

“I’m proud to say that recently, every USDA inspector who has come through, we’ve had no problems,” Payne says.

But this problem-free phase may not last long for Ringling. Some U.S. cities are considering a prohibition on the use of bullhooks, with bans recently being approved in Los Angeles and Oakland, California. Proponents in favor of the bans say the tools are abusive. Circus producers, meanwhile, argue that prohibiting them means ridding circuses of animals altogether.

For PETA, that’s the point.

“When you ban the bullhook, you ban these elephant exploiters because they’re not going to bring an elephant into the circus without a bullhook – it’s way too dangerous,” Carron says.

He points out, however, that he doesn’t oppose animal-free circuses such as Cirque du Soleil. He’s against only those that profit from animals.

“Take the animals out of there and I’ll be the first person to buy a ticket for your circus," Carron says.

A Lifelong Calling

On Thanksgiving Day, Carron’s family holed up in New York, reminiscing and cooking. But he wasn’t there. Instead, Carron spent his day driving in the rain down the streets of Moyock, North Carolina, in search of dogs left outside in poor conditions.

He had decided to volunteer for PETA’s straw delivery program, an initiative to help dogs forced to live outdoors. For more than five hours, he and another activist knocked on doors and asked dog owners if they could swap their dogs’ wet beds for warm, straw beds.

In one instance, Carron found a dog housed in a feces-covered pen and sipping from dirty water. He raked out the feces, gave the dog food and changed the water. Later, he headed to PETA’s headquarters to munch on tofurkey, string beans and cranberry sauce with about 50 other activists – an event he helped organize.

"Even though you see some dogs in some sad situations, it’s nice to know you make a difference in their life, even if it’s a small improvement or small difference,” he says. “I’m thankful for having the volunteer opportunity and I’m thankful for the people who donate to that program, so I just thought it was a really rewarding way to give back on Thanksgiving.”

Carron is devoted to giving back, whether it’s by delivering straw or handing out elephant-gray sweatsuits to volunteers. When he’s confident that one issue has been solved, he’ll move on to the next.

“My goal in life is complete animal liberation,” he says. “I want to work every day – all day, every day – constantly toward that goal. This is my life."