Nevada County Fair Board Keeps Elephant Rides
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
June 2013

At a special meeting on Thursday, June 20, 2013, the Nevada County Fair board of directors listened to nearly two hours of testimony from about 40 people, mostly local, who overwhelmingly objected to the small county fair featuring elephant rides this year.

PAWS president, Ed Stewart, and Catherine Doyle, PAWS director of science, research and advocacy, both presented testimony at the meeting, alongside animal protection advocates and concerned members of the public.

When it came time to decide whether to cancel the fair's contract with Have Trunk Will Travel, a company shown in an ADI video (Shock Electric - Animal Cruelty by Have Trunk Will Travel) viciously striking its elephants and using an illegal electric shock device during training, the board was silent. Without a word of discussion, the contract was allowed to stand -- a contract that contains no agreement for Have Trunk Will Travel to pay an exhibitor's fee for being at the fair, or pay any money to the Nevada County Fair for the rides it gives to fairgoers.

The room erupted in cries of disbelief -- but the board's inaction only made everyone more determined to ensure that people who may think of attending the fair, located in Grass Valley, California, are fully informed about how Have Trunk Will Travel uses bullhooks to dominate and control elephants through fear of pain, and how the lives of children and families are put at serious risk.

PAWS will be there when the fair takes place on August 7-11, and we urge you to join us in educating the public and protesting the rides. In the coming weeks, we'll be providing more details on our efforts, so stay tuned. Mark those dates on your calendar now. The fairgrounds are located approximately 70 miles north of Sacramento.

We would like to send a special thanks to Robert Gelman for attending the meeting and speaking so eloquently on behalf of the elephants. Robert was the producer of Circus PAWS, a very special animal-free circus that was the brainchild of PAWS co-founder, the late Pat Derby, and thrilled young and old alike when presented in Hollywood last year.  


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