When Clockwork reported in June that Melissa “Vegan Mel” Sehgal confined her nude painted body to a cage to demonstrate against Ringling Bros.
and Barnum N Bailey Circus' treatment of elephants and other animals as the circus prepared to come to Anaheim, promoter Feld Entertainment cried foul.
So, we followed our post on People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) member Sehgal's protest (and accompanying photo slideshow) with counter-spin from Feld's PR machine (and accompanying photo slideshow).
Well, Feld and PETA are at it again, only the animal rights group has dirt from a Ringling insider this time.
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Sammy Haddock, who in 1997 was hired to work as a handler at Ringling Bros. and
Barnum N Bailey's Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida, died early last month at age 53 of liver failure. He left behind scores of
pictures and a written recollection of his workplace that do not jibe with Feld Entertainment's version of how animals, especially baby circus elephants, are treated.
How do we know this? Because Samuel Dewitt Haddock Jr. brought his father's words and photos to Debbie Leahy, PETA's director of captive animals rescue and
enforcement.
Ringling officials reportedly confirm that the pictures are genuine images of
activity at its elephant conservation center, but they dispute
Haddock's and PETA's interpretations of what is taking place.
Meanwhile, in other stitchless PETA spokesperson news, Real Housewives of New York-er Bethenny Frankel has released an untouched version of her original PETA ad, which had drawn criticism for being heavily airbrushed. Before and after follow . . .
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.