Circus Elephants and Tuberculosis

Apart from Humans, the only land Animal that cries is an Elephant.

Dear friends,

The story below is one of many I have published  on the subject of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (otherwise known as M-tuberculosis) in elephants and its transference to humans. I have worked on this topic for two years.

I have always approached the M-tuberculosis stories with a desire to protect both the elephants and the unsuspecting people sitting in closed arenas who get  exposed to the M-tb.

There are a few elephants sanctuaries in the United States, and if the USDA finally did it's job by taking performing elephants exposed and sick with M-tuberculosis out of circuses, the obvious question is where would these elephants (who have already suffered so much) end up? I would like to get people thinking about elephant sanctuaries funded by the circuses who have risked spreading a communicable disease by using these sick and tortured animals. But, as you know, billionaires do not like to part with the golden goose. Kenneth Feld, the sole owner of Ringling Bros.Barnum & Baily circus has been quoted as saying, " The circus would not be the circus without the elephants." But there is a federal law-suit pending. Perhaps someday the spreading of this disease from humans to elephants and back again will cease. Perhaps a judge will rule testing is needed to prove what scientists have written: that fifty percent of all elephant handlers exposed to M-tuberculosis come down with it themselves. They then, of course, carry it home to families,homeless shelters...etc.There is a circus in Oakland now, performing with two elephants who have tested positive for M-tb. The elephant in the picture to the left is one of them.Those elephants are giving rides to children everyday. Is this government so distracted that no one is looking...and no one cares?

I am not an animal activist. I believe in truth and  doing no harm.  If you want to understand my credentials and background go to the "About Leslie" page. If you want to know who I am emotionally and philosophically, go to "Thank You Dan Rather." It can be found lower on this front page.

If you want to know about the the M-tuberculosis, read my first ob-ed on this page. After you do that, for the facts you need to truly understand how insidious this problem is, read "The Elephant in the Room." It too is under "Recent Investigations." It can also be Googled.

Life is sacred. Money is not.  Corporations are big and powerful and sometimes nefarious, but they should not be allowed to put our lives at risk.

Here is the article:

                   

 Circus Elephants with Tuberculosis are a Real Threat.

Published  in The Huffington Post April 24h.

A little girl wiggles uncontrollably as she waits for the elephants to come out while sitting in the stands under the big tent. A bow in her hair, and her new glittery shoes on her feet. She's in her Sunday finest because the self proclaimed, "Greatest Show on Earth" is about to begin. She jumps from her seat as the endangered Asian elephants enter the closed arena. Her hands are now lifted high above her head in some Pentecostal fashion she believes will bring her closer to the mammoth ten thousand pound performers.

She holds cotton candy in one hand and reaches out with the other as the Asian elephants pass by hoping to get some of the moisture blown from their trunks on her body and in her hair. She loves the smell of them, the way they thud-thud- as they walk, and she's studying dinosaurs in school, and she believes they look prehistoric.

But this is where the scene screeches to an end. This is where the film rips, and the colors merge into Rorschach- black- burns on the screen. The circus boasts of "death defying acts," but she is possibly sitting closer to heartbreak and disease than she has the capacity to imagine.

"That little girl could be in very real danger of catching a communicable disease that could make her very ill or even kill her." World-renowned epidemiologist and head of the first HIV division for the Centers for Disease Control, Don Francis says. Never one to back away from a fight, Francis is the subject of a movie about his fight to make the world understand another communicable disease---AIDS. And the Band Played On is the movie, and he became one of my heroes when I viewed it almost twenty years ago. Francis is a man who has taken on giants with deep pockets at great risk to himself for the public good. He knows denial kills.

He fought to prove AIDS was ravenous. He wanted funding to try to stop it. We in the Bay Area were attending so many funerals a day the crematoriums could not get to all the bodies in time to display the Urns, and many funeral homes would not touch the bodies at all. Francis knows that in the face of a communicable disease, denial, politics and lack of research money can perpetuate a modern day plague.

After two years of researching the transference of M-tuberculosis from Asian elephants to humans, I took my documents to Don Francis--now in San Francisco running a bio lab called Global Solutions for infectious diseases. I knew if my evidence was solid, Francis would not lie, and he would not be afraid of repercussions if it meant protecting the public. The documents included e-mails affidavits, and depositions. All had to do with Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus and the fact that the majority of their elephants from 1993- 2007 had m-tuberculosis, the same kind humans contract. Many of the documents revealed that the elephants had been given one or more of the three treatment drugs and either could not tolerate them or had become drug resistant. These are the same drugs humans take for m-tuberculosis. I well remember the week of our meeting because that same week one man, on one passenger plane, was found to have M-tuberculosis. A few days later, congress held acrimonious hearings trying to figure out how one passenger could have boarded the plane exposing everyone inside.

When elephants enter an arena they often spew mucus from their spouts. If circus patrons are within shot of the effluence and the animal is sick, it could spread M-tuberculosis to the patron or worse. It could spread a drug resistant form of tuberculosis.

Last Sunday I opened up the San Jose Mercury News and found this article on the front page.

The article used CDC figures which indicate that tuberculosis increased in four of the Bay Area's five largest counties and San Jose had the highest tuberculosis rate of any large American metro city." For the scientists among you, read "The Elephant in the Room."

After 15 years of denying it, the USDA finally admits Asian elephants can pass m-tuberculosis to humans and vice- versa. For more on that

See this article on the Global Action Network website:   http://www.gan.ca/campaigns/circuses/factsheets/tuberculosis+in+elephants.en.html

Now ask yourself if you know anyone with M-tuberculosis. Then ask them whether they have been to the circus lately.

If you are tempted to believe the circus' family-friendly all-American image is real, consider this: every e-mail explaining the herds had m-tuberculosis is sent from Ringling's veterinarian to a private investigator or former CIA director. I have the documents.

Money or public health? Ringling chose money every time while our little boys and girls sitting in their Sunday best were and may still be sitting ducks.

Comments

[D]

You say you are not an "animal activist", but the reality is that you are. Wanting to do no harm to both people and animals is the #1 animal activist trait, with #2 being that you help animals. By exposing the cruelty, the risk, the "big bad wolf" that is the circus, you are helping these innocent creatures.

Perhaps you shy away from the "Animal Activist" term because you feel it will taint peoples views of your writing, or make it hard for your stories to seem unbiased, but yes, you ARE an activist - and a damned good one, title, or no.

[Jane Stanley]

This article reminds me just how powerful one or all of us together can be if we act as one, with considered and researched arguments in the right places and to the right people.
My question always is though "What would be done with all of these elephants (and all the other performing animals in circuses and zoos who carry illness or cause harm to humans) if their 'usefulness' was ended?"
Not only do we have to fight for their freedom, but we also have to plan for it. There needs to be large and appropriate places for the animals to retire to, and many caregivers, and lots of money for their care. We have seen what happens when the elephants of Asia are made "redundant" when their work is made illegal.
I think that Carol and Scott (The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee), some others in Africa, and Lek (Elephant Nature Park in Thailand), are on the right track in involving a whole community in the hosting and maintenance of a sanctuary for elephants. How long it has taken them to make the idea acceptable in those communities! Are there other 'bright lights' like them who could take on this task? Are there communities here where we live who would support it?

[Barbara Shepler]

Thank you for such an important article. It should be required reading for anyone who still believes the circus is a healthy, fun experience.

I have to note that the last link in your article needs to end in .html rather than .htm The correct link is http://www.gan.ca/campaigns/circuses/factsheets/tuberculosis+in+elephants.en.html