Legal News

Ringling Bros., Elephants and the Endangered Species Act

By Dan Slater

Break out your best “litigation & circus” jokes. Ringling Bros. will appear tomorrow in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan (remember the Ted Stevens trial?) to square off against animal welfare organizations over the treatment of elephants.

Here’s the Legal Times story, and here’s a recent NYT story on the suit.

The case, notes Legal Times, is a major test for the reach of the Endangered Species Act, which for the first time is being used by private citizens to try to influence the care of animals already in captivity.

The activist groups, led by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, claim that by chaining the elephants in barns and freight trains for up to 20 hours at a time, and by disciplining them with bullhooks — essentially long rods with sharp, skin-piercing tips — Ringling Bros. violates the ESA’s ban on “harming,” “harassing,” or “wounding” an endangered animal.

Ringling Bros. says its methods of training and controlling its elephants are techniques that are considered common practice at other circuses and zoos around the country. “If [the plaintiffs] had their way, the only way that Americans are going to be able to see elephants is in books and videos,” Michelle Pardo, a senior associate at Fulbright & Jaworski, which is representing Ringling Bros. and its parent company, Feld Entertainment, told Legal Times.

David Favre, a professor of animal law at Michigan State U. says, “The ESA until now has more or less dealt with nameless animals in the wild. This is the first time its dealing with wildlife in a captive situation.”

Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal, a seven-lawyer public-interest firm based in Washington, is repping the plaintiffs.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 03, 2009 (boomark / email).