Not all are happy when the circus comes to Everett

When the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus opens Thursday in Everett for a four-day show, audiences can expect some excitement inside and outside the Everett Events Center.

Inside, high-wire artists, gravity-defying acrobats and Asian elephants will be running through their routines.

		Gilbert W. Arias / P-I
	Ryan Henning, an animal handler with Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, dusts off Luna, a 8,000 pound 23-year-old Asian elephant in a holding area inside the Everett Events Center on Wednesday.

Outside, animal rights activist will be protesting the treatment of those elephants.

Protesters at the circus are common, but they could be a little more spirited this year. Efforts of animal rights activists were given a boost last month when a U.S. District judge decided their lawsuit accusing Ringling Bros. of abusing an endangered species -- the Asian elephants -- has enough merit to go to trial.

The lawsuit alleges that the circus trains and disciplines elephants with sharp implements such as bull hooks and chains, and confines them for long trips, forcibly separating baby elephants from their mothers.

Wednesday, hoping to counter the accusations of activists, Ringling Bros. offered tours of its animal care facility as the circus settled in Everett for its shows.

In many cities, audience members who arrive early are allowed to wander around and look at the animals, a Ringling Bros. spokesman said.

Circus leaders talked about elephant-care programs, and about the 200-acre Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida, where 20 elephants have been born since 1997.

"I am here day-in and day-out, 24-hours. The elephants have the best food, the best medical care and close supervision," said Carrie Coleman, a veterinary technician. "I see how they interact with their handlers. They are very well taken care of. I couldn't work here if they weren't."

After leaving Everett, the next stop for the circus is Stockton, Calif., an 800-mile trip.

"We will stop halfway through the trip, unload the animals for about five hours and let them walk around," Coleman said.

The protest in Washington is being organized by PAWS, the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, and will be joined by the Northwest Animal Rights Network.

"People in the audience can see the hooks and whips that are used on animals when they are watching the circus," said Mary Leake Schilder, with PAWS. "We urge people to support circuses that don't use animals, she said.

The Everett performances are the only Puget Sound stop for the circus.

In 1999, Redmond was the first city in King County to ban circuses with exotic animals.

A year later, Seattle City Council members spent several weeks debating a similar ban prohibiting exotic animals from performing at KeyArena and other city-owned venues, then narrowly voted against it.