PETA Charges Abuse In Connection With Fair Elephant

An attrac­tion at the Williams County fair attracted some atten­tion from ani­mal rights activists. For the sec­ond con­sec­u­tive year, an ele­phant ride was offered at the fair last week. And once again, PETA… The Peo­ple For The Eth­i­cal Treat­ment Of Ani­mals, has com­plained.

The group sent report­edly sent an email to the Williams County Fair Board in which they out­lined their con­cerns about the health of Nosey, a 3-ton, 9-foot-tall African ele­phant. PETA urged the fair board in that email, to can­cel Nosey’s appear­ance.

The elephant’s owner and his wife, who oper­ate Florida State Fam­ily Enter­tain­ment, the com­pany behind Leibel­ing Broth­ers Fam­ily Cir­cus, have been cited by the United States Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture for almost two dozen vio­la­tions over the past 20 years.

The com­pany claims mean­while, that they are being unfairly tar­geted by PETA.

Accord­ing to the Bryan Times, PETA rep­re­sen­ta­tives claim to have observed Nosey at this year’s fair and they say he is in obvi­ous dis­tress.

Fair board pres­i­dent Eugene Wil­son, accord­ing to the paper, dis­putes the allegations.