Circus Brings USDA-Documented Abused Elephants to Oakland Protest Urges Bay Area Residents to Boycott Animal Circuses

Oakland, Calif.—A controversial circus elephant act under two federal investigations rolled into Oakland this week after being shut down in Los Angeles earlier this month. The elephant act, leased by Circus Vazquez, is owned by the Davenport family, which has a long history of abuse and neglect documented in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official reports.

The elephants now in Oakland are Tina, Jewel and Queenie. Both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are actively investigating the elephants' "owner" Will Davenport for violations of the federal Animal Welfare and Endangered Species Acts.

What: Protest & Educational Leafleting at Circus Vazquez
Where: 5601 Oakport Drive, Oakland (off highway 880)
When: Friday, April 25 at 5:30 p.m.

Problems surrounding the elephants include:

  • History of physical abuse, neglect, inadequate veterinary care, inhumane handling and Animal Welfare Act violations for all three elephants.

  • Abuse documented by USDA including multiple wounds consistent with ankus abuse, eyewitness reports of beatings, and the "inappropriate and abusive use of the ankus and such use is likely to cause trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm or unnecessary discomfort..."

  • Violation of the Endangered Species Act committed in the "purchase" of Tina and Jewel, highly endangered Asian elephants, by the Davenports from the Cole Brothers Circus.

Davenport circus family patriarch John Davenport is also under investigation for violation of a decade-old federal court order barring him from exhibiting exotic animals after the overheating death of an ailing eight-year old elephant who was left in the back of a truck with two other elephants and eight llamas in 1998. The surviving animals were seized by the City of Albuquerque, where the incident occurred.

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization based in San Rafael, California. Citizens For Cruelty-Free Entertainment is a Bay Area grassroots organization dedicated to educating the public about the inherent cruelty of using animals in entertainment. For more information on the elephants with Circus Vazquez (Tina, Jewel and Queenie) see www.helpelephants.com.