Almost everyone knows the classic Disney story "Dumbo," the heart-rending tale of a baby elephant cruelly taken from its mother far too soon by callous circus handlers.
Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is painting a far worse picture of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as the "Greatest Show on Earth" comes to Washington's MCI Center this week and to the Patriot Center in Fairfax County next week.
PETA protesters showed up yesterday in Washington's Lafayette Park, and demonstrated in New York City on Wednesday when the circus arrived there.
Thousands of visitors to PETA's Web site are finding a searing attack on Ringling Bros. titled "Baby Killers."
But Darin Johnson, national spokesman for Ringling Bros., insists PETA's portrayal is as fictitious as the tale of Dumbo the flying elephant.
While "Dumbo" has a happy ending, PETA's tale of Riccardo the baby elephant's end is anything but happy.
Video of the elephant's birth shows it snatched away by circus workers before its mother can even look down and see it.
Riccardo then died in July when he was only 8 months old.
PETA says the young elephant was involved in a training exercise in Florida, fell off a 19-inch-high platform and broke both back legs, then was euthanized.
His bones were brittle because his mother was not allowed to nurse him, PETA spokeswoman Brandi Valladolid said.
"We've been protesting Ringling Bros. for a very long time," Valladolid said. "Ringling Bros. is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to animal welfare and animal care."
Johnson vehemently denied that.
"What the public needs to understand is that any type of abuse or mistreatment of animals is not tolerated at Ringling Bros. and goes against out animal care policies," he said.
He called the circus's handlers and trainers "a dedicated team of people who love and respect their animals."
And, he said, Riccardo was not training, but playing, when he fell off a platform.
PETA's Valladolid said parents should not take their children to the Ringling Bros. Circus to see the animals.
"Kids pick up on things we don't think they see," she said. "They see the animals getting whipped. They see the ringmaster hitting them.
"It teaches a very dangerous lesson--that it's OK to abuse animals; OK to exploit them for entertainment," she said
Valladolid said Riccardo's mother, Shirley, who was 7, may have reacted to the birth with panic because she was too immature to be breeding. She said elephants normally don't breed till age 18 in the wild.
Johnson said animals often breed at younger ages in captivity because they mature faster because of better nutrition.
He said the online video of the birth only shows the calf being pulled away from the mother for its own protection and doesn't show it being returned to her when she calmed down.
Johnson said the calf was taken away, checked and returned, just as human babies are examined by doctors then returned to their mothers.
However, he said, looking at the birth of an elephant through a Disneylike prism of human emotions isn't appropriate.
"Associating everything in the life cycle of an elephant to a human's is comparing apples and oranges," he said.
"Unfortunately, the mother rejected Riccardo," Johnson said, and circus personnel then began feeding and caring for him.
He said the same Ringling Bros. personnel who raised Riccardo , feeding him from a bottle like a baby, were so upset when he was euthanized that they were in tears and couldn't talk about it.
PETA has accused Ringling Bros. of a pattern of abuse of Asian elephants and other animals.
Johnson said other video on the PETA Web site showing elephants being whipped is being falsely portrayed as involving Ringling Bros. and in some cases is very old.
"They took footage from every zoo and animal park in the world and spliced it together," he said.
PETA's Valladolid also pointed to the August death of a Ringling Bros. lion named Clyde. The animal suffocated in a hot box car during a train trip.
At the time, the circus reportedly blamed a train employee who refused to open the car so the lion could be given water.
But this week Johnson said he can't discuss the matter because it's being investigated by the USDA.
To reach MICHAEL ZITZ: 540/374-5408 mikez@freelancestar.com