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Finally we have details about when the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is coming to town - and, more importantly, when the elephants are planning their annual walk through Manhattan. For all you pachyderm enthusiasts, get ready to stay up late next Tuesday night:
Unload Stock Cars: 11:30 PM (Tuesday, March 27)Hoorah! We're not going to think about the 10-day forecast because the weather will probably change the next 7 days.
The Walk Begins: 11:59 PM
Time At Tunnel: Approx 12:20 AM (Wednesday morning)In Manhattan, the elephants will emerge from the north tube of the Queens Midtown Tunnel and proceed along 34th Street to The Garden.
This year's circus theme is Bellobration - and the circus will be in New York City March 31 through April 15 (here's ticket info). We watched the elephants last year and we love this photograph.
Photograph of the lead elephant from last year's walk by semyon on Flickr
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Elephant walk or PETA protest?
Likely both once again.
I have always hated the circus and this animal cruelty needs to be stopped.
gothamist - please reconsider your coverage of this - it's a cruel spectacle no matter how well Barnum and Bailey treats those elephants. For a creature that large and that smart, there is just no way this is right.
It's depressing to see them lumbering through the streets of the city... they don't belong here, they don't want to be here. Asphalt and concrete are not what they need. I hate that circuses still use animals as entertainment.
Wild animals have absolutely no place in providing "entertainment" for humans. And no matter how well circuses may treat these animals, travelling around the country is no life for them. Please reconsider your support of this event.
meh an elephant, ring me up when there is a pack of hyenas roaming the city.
I thought the pack of hyeanas were all those botoxed/facelifted women on the UES.
I know many people do not like the elephant walk. But I also know that I've been getting two emails a day asking when the event is.
But I also know that I've been getting two emails a day asking when the event is.
If there were still slave hangings in Union Square, you would probably get emails about that as well. I'm not sure how that makes it okay.
The elephants are walking regardless of you crying about it. Yes, it may seem cruel to use elephants as entertainment but consider that all those wonderful elephants in southeast Asia that carry lumber and people etc didn't get into that business voluntarily. And equally cruel and perverse is dressing your dog up in human clothing, staining them pink, and getting on with them mouth-to-mouth.
With the information that is out there today about how circus animals are trained and live, it would seem uncivilized for a society to find that to be family entertainment.
Hey Gabe, why is it cruel just because these animals are smart? Is it okay to be "cruel" if we're dealing with dumb animals?
Ok, so we all know how the elephants get into the city. How do they leave the city?
I personally enjoy watching the elephants, although the crowds can get a bit obnoxious. If you're foursquare against it though, stay home and rent Elephant Walk starring Elizabeth Taylor. Lumbering elephants get their destruction on when dealing with colonizing humans in Ceylon.
Hey Angry? I agree with you completely about dogs in clothes, but the elephants in Southeast Asia don't have the hair burned off their bodies with blow torches like circus elephants do, and they are typically cared for by someone who has dedicated his life to that very job. Not to mention the fact that they're at least living in their native climate, rather than, you know, walking the streets of New York City in the bitter cold.
Jen, your yee-ha happy happy coverage of this event every year definitely needs some reconsideration, regardless of the whopping two emails a day you receive about it.
I'll be sure to boil a couple of lobsters alive for dinner before I go and watch the spectacle.
I like the overall level of antagonism in this thread. Good stuff - especially the lobster digs!
"Bellobration" - while seemingly a reference to one of RB's magical, mystical performers - is a poor title in light of the recent police indictments.
Hey Jen, if this were instead about pandas being paraded on chains throughout the city, I suspect that while you might similarly call attention to the story, you wouldn't be gleeful about it.
Ringling has tortured and killed 26 elephants in the past ten years.
Has over 100 animal welfare violations for abuse and neglect of all
their animals. You are watching elephants and horses who are walking to their deaths with each bullhook gougec into their ears, chin and feet, whips, eletric prods, blowtorches, chains, cages. This should be a vigil of mourning for the animals not a spectacle as you are promoting. These animals deserve our respect and our help
to stop all animal circuses from killing these endangered animals.
www.elephants.com in Tennessee rescues elephants, one should volunteer their time there to truly help the animals.
I agree this is a sorry spectacle and I'm not sure why it gets so much press each year.
And why do people even go to the circus? Zoos are bad enough but they at least try to provide a naturalistic environment and educate people about different animals in order to raise awareness. But the circus just seems cruel and archaic.
I guess nobody notices how the carriage horses in central park are subjected to cruel winters, oppressive summers & car-fumes year-round. I also won’t mention the unnatural imprisonment of dogs, cats, birds & fish in tiny apartments instead of living in their natural habitats. Hypocrites.
I stayed with the Ringling Circus for a day while my friend was working for them as a clown. The elephants stayed in the middle of a warehouse with cement floors, wire caging and thick, steel chains around their ankles. My friend confirmed that the animals "aren't treated that well" and that he had seen the trainers whip them. So, straight from the horses mouth. I can't wait for the day when Americans have to go to Africa to view these glorious creatures.
Dear Peta folks, please do your research before showing up to protest. The one pathetic guy you had out last year didn't even know the difference between asian and african elephants, and didn't know that these particular elephants were captive bred anyhow...
If you want to put on a well planned and cleanly executed protest, complete with full intelligent information and well thought out spokespeople, that's great. Have at it. But people who protest without doing their own research just lose all credibility and make you look bad.
I can't wait to see the elephants walk. My children love to see them and I'll make sure to be wearing my finest fox coat. Before the walk I'll take the family to PJ Clark's where we can have great burgers.
What about all those performing wales and dolphins at the aquarium?? Just cos they dont' carry with them the pageanty of the Victorian Carnival and all that connotates does not mean that they're treated any differently, and probably to the same high standards as these animals, just cos they got like all this serious "science" and "education" facade at sea world and some cute blonde chick in a wet suit riding they noses.
You watch too much dumbo and circus masters with the whip.
This has nothign to do with that and this looks great to me. Far out man, i'm gonna drop acid and check it out.
I'd be interested in where, as well as when. Particularly I'd like to know where they unload so I could see them going through those toll booths.
And really, do you think that protesting in the middle of the night at an event that isn't really even all that public, with some badly made cardboard signs and half researched information is going to do anything? Your protests are senseless and worthless moral masturbation.
In my opinion.
haha...i think it's so cool that they have an elephant walk in manhattan. it must be really difficult to clear out all the streets and get them all in order. i haven't been to the circus in forever!
I am perfectly positive that the very fact that, while these animals might get a blowtorch to their skin (which clearly doesn't seem to actually singe the skin, just the hair...) they are alive. which is more than i can say about the animals still ruthlessly slaughtered for their "black market ivory" that is available to those tourists who have enough money to go to africa to "view them in their natural environment."
good luck with the protests. I just hope you (like I) donate money to animal refuges where circus animals no longer needed are then taken care of for the rest of their long lives. You can't kill the circus without dealing with the animals. Unless you intend to kill them, too. Like Iraq, you need an exit strategy. I would be fine if the circus were to end (which it will, popularity is waning--and I'm not going to the circus, but I am going to the walk), but I'm not about to abandon these animals.
I went on a safari trip to Africa last summer...shot a few elephants - and guess what. ELEPHANT TASTES LIKE CHICKEN.
Absolutely horrible event. If interested, please joing the protest against Ringling Bros & their cruelty to animals on opening day, Saturday 3/31 at 11:00 am. 7th Ave & 33rd.