Elephant escapes the circus and takes a thunderous tour of a Montana city



A 58-year-old elephant escaped from the circus Tuesday afternoon and roamed the streets of Butte, Montana. The bloodless parade, which stunned passersby and briefly brought traffic to a standstill, was peaceably terminated in time for the show to go on.

The Jordan World Circus has been touring the Treasure State in recent days. It counts among its stars multiple elephants, including the escapee, Viola — who has alternatively been referred to in some reports by the name "Tola."

The general manager of the Civic Center, Bill Melvin, told the Daily Montanan that the gargantuan creature was spooked by a car backfiring. The African elephant lumbered some 100 yards away from the venue before her trainer could wrangle her and escort her back to the circus.

In that brief window of time the elephant knew liberty, Viola lumbered across Harrison Avenue and into a gas station parking lot, halting traffic along the way.

Lisa Rogers, an employee at the Town Pump off Harrison Avenue, told the Montana Standard that at the sight of the beast, "I jumped in the air."

Josh Hannifin, the comanager of the gas station, indicated that the elephant moved quickly, quipping, "There's never a dull moment working here."

Melissa Crosby, a real estate agent with a good view of the avenue, peered out just as Viola passed by.

"I texted my husband and he thought I was losing it," Crosby told the Standard. "It was the high point of my day."

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Viola's handler of 22 years, Armando Loyal, indicated that the elephant was getting a bath behind the Civic Center when a passing truck backfired.

"She was trying to get away from the noise," said Loyal. "It was nerve-wracking."

The elephant's adventure was brought to a close in less than half an hour.

"The circus, of course, is very professional, and they had a professional trainer and he was real calm and the animal was calm and they were able to get her right back," Melvin told the Daily Montanan. "It was not nearly as dramatic as you would think."

The damage was reportedly limited to the flattening of an old fence.

"Everybody's back home safe and sound," added Melvin.

The New York Post indicated that the circus was able to put on its 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. shows despite the escape.

Don Kaltschmidt, the head of the Montana Republican Party, joked that Viola's self-guided tour signaled the GOP was "taking Silverbow County by storm." After all, the elephant has been associated with Republicans since the 19th century, thanks to political cartoonist Thomas Nast.

Jason Thielman, chief of staff for Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R) and the executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote, "Metaphor for 2024 senate race."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals activists similarly seized upon the incident for their cause, claiming, "Viola's desperate break for freedom follows decades of abuse and involuntary servitude at the hands of Carson & Barnes Circus."

PETA suggested further that Viola had previously escaped in 2010 and in 2014.

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PETA proposes White House Easter egg roll use potatoes instead



People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the White House to change its Easter egg roll into a Easter potato roll.

In a letter to first lady Jill Biden, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk floated the idea, suggesting the switch from eggs to spuds.

"Instead of promoting the deleterious factory farming and slaughter industries, will you please initiate the annual White House Potato Roll?" Newkirk asked in the letter, according to a PETA press release.

She said potatoes "can be safely dyed, allowing for spudtacular traditional activities, such as rolling them, seeking for them, and decorating them. You could even hold potato sack races and games of hot potato!"

"Easter is not a time of renewal or joy for chickens on egg factory farms. It can take up to 36 hours in typically hellish conditions for a hen—who spends her entire life in a cage smaller than a letter-sized sheet of paper—to produce just one of the thousands of eggs slated to be used at the White House Easter Egg Roll," Newkirk claimed.

According to the White House, the event is scheduled for April 1.

Prior to the 2023 White House Easter egg roll event, the PETA president had pressed the first lady not to permit the use of real eggs, suggesting alternatives like "reusable plastic or wooden eggs—or even lovely painted rocks or egg-shaped balls." In the letter last year, Newkirk claimed that such a move "would make the event eggstra special for chickens and inclusive of all children who attend, including those who don’t consume eggs for ethical, environmental, or health reasons."

"PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview," the group states on its website.

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PETA accused of spinning in circles for animal activist org's latest quizzical target: 'These people have truly lost it'



The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have waged a war against an unlikely and quizzical target – carousels with inanimate animals.

On Thursday, PETA published an article calling for the end of merry-go-rounds with fake animals installed on them.

The animal rights organization penned a letter to Aaron Landrum – president and CEO of Chance Rides, which is the largest manufacturer of amusement rides in the country.

PETA demanded the amusement ride company to "end the production and sale of animal-themed carousels that normalize the use of animals as conveyances and amusements and instead produce carousel figures in the shape of cars, airplanes, spaceships, bulldozers, and other vehicles or more whimsical designs, like shooting stars, rainbows, or brooms."

"Animals used for rides and other forms of entertainment — including camels, horses, elephants, and dolphins — are often beaten into submission, deprived of everything that’s natural and important to them, and even slaughtered once their bodies wear out," the animal activist org alleged.

PETA's alleged logic for wanting to ban the animal-themed carousels: "Children learn through play, and teaching them to have respect and compassion for all living, feeling beings can help create a more just and merciful world."

PETA pointed to other companies that have discontinued the use of animal imagery, such as Nabisco replacing caged animals on its Barnum’s Animals Crackers and Trader Joe's ending packaging featuring elephants performing.

However, netizens overwhelmingly disagreed and mocked PETA for demanding the end of animal-themed carousels.

Someone wrote, "I just can't anymore. Carousels with horses have existed for 150 years. They are more rare now than 50 years ago. Just. Stop. The. Constant. Nonsense."

An X social media user, "How can anyone take that organization seriously?"

Another user added, "Yes because metal animals are totally like real ones."

Someone noted, "Wow these people have truly lost it."

Another user stated, "Just when you think clown world may have peaked."

One person added, "Someone tell them nobody's eating the carousel animals."

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Study linking ghastly tests on corpses and live dogs to sex-change surgeries re-emerges, sparking outrage



Chinese scientists made a show years ago of mutilating live dogs and human corpses in hopes of better equipping mentally ill women with mock penises. Over the weekend, feminists took to pressing animal rights activists about their silence on the matter.

Although only recently making the rounds on social media, the study now inflaming feminists was published in 2018 by the medical journal Sexual Medicine. The study chronicled the nightmarish efforts by Zhuming Yin and his team from the communist-controlled Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College to "develop a 1-stage prosthesis-free dynamic cavernosa reconstruction method using bilateral innervate gracilis muscles."

In other words, Yin and his team were developing a new and improved way of mutilating the female clitoris and thigh muscles in order to construct fake penises for transvestites.

Yin and his team justified their work in part by highlighting an increasing number of patients with "gender dysphoria" and a corresponding rise in "demand for anatomic, functional, and esthetic penile reconstruction."

There appears to be a growing market for the expensive procedures, especially in the U.S., where the number of minors ages 6-17 diagnosed with so-called gender dysphoria has skyrocketed in recent years. Reuters reported that in 2017, there were 15,172 new diagnoses in the United States. In 2021, there were 41,167. The number is likely to continue rising.

The JAMA Network Open indicated on the basis of a cohort study including data from the Nationwide Ambulatory Survey Sample and the National Inpatient Sample, sex-change operations nearly tripled from 2016 to 2019.

While gruesome options were already available to women seeking sex changes, the Chinese study noted that such surgeries involved multiple stages as well as various complications, specifically with the implantation of an "erectile prosthesis," including dysfunction, "prosthesis malposition, infection, protrusion, and leakage."

To test their one-stage sex-change method, the scientists first experimented on the remains of 10 freshly deceased human beings who had been between the ages of 38 and 73. The study indicated these dissections served as a proof of concept for transformation of thigh muscles, skin flaps, and corpora cavernosa into monstrous aggregates intended to altogether resemble male phalli.

After butchering the dead, Yin and his team set their sights on 11 mixed-breed female dogs, all between the ages of 11 and 13 months old. The canine subjects were loaded full of ketamine, fentanyl, and other drugs, then subjected to "penile reconstruction surgery."

"Each dog after surgery was equipped with a large-sized Elizabethan collar to prevent the animal from biting and licking the surgical site," said the study. "The animals were examined daily within 2 weeks after surgery until the wound healed completely."

The Chinese scientists then subjected the transmogrified creatures to further indignities, electrocuting the dogs' transplanted thigh muscles to test whether their alien parts would attain "sufficient hardness to complete sexual intercourse."

In what was apparently the first and last mercy shown to the dogs, Yin's team euthanized all of the test subjects after seven months of assessments — with the exception of one canid that died after the surgery. The fake penises on the dead dogs were then "harvested" for further study.

It appears some American researchers have already put the Chinese experiments into the service of the transgender agenda stateside. A team of researchers at the Center for Gender Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, cited the study in October 2022 as evidence of a surgical means to help "transgender men achieve penetrative function after phalloplasty."

The feminist publication Reduxx drew attention to the study Sunday as well as to the recent efforts of critics to rouse the concern of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

One feminist wrote to PETA, "You protest against milking cows; how about protesting against something truly horrible?"

"Yet when they were testing women's cosmetics on rabbits - there were world wide protests. what could the difference be?" wrote another self-described feminist.

"They experimented on female dogs in the name in gender ideology and trans 'health care,'" wrote another feminist. "They butchered them and sewed on fake penises. Another horror in the miles long ever expanding list of horrors to come out of this madness."

The X account Real Parents of Loudoun County cast doubt on the purported ethical nature of the Chinese experiments and stressed, "It's time to end these practices. No one is born in the wrong body."

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Video: NFL super agent Drew Rosenhaus slammed as 'wannabe macho man' by PETA for wrestling shark



NFL super agent Drew Rosenhaus has been reprimanded by the animal rights group PETA for wrestling a shark.

Rosenhaus recently went on a fishing trip with Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

Last week, Rosenhaus shared a video on his Twitter account of an encounter with a large shark off the coast of Miami.

Rosenhaus jumped off the boat and into the water with the shark during the deep sea fishing excursion.

Someone on the boat can be heard saying, "Don't grab him, don’t grab him, Drew. Don't grab him, Drew. You don’t have good enough insurance for that."

Rosenhaus grabbed the large shark by the tail as it was caught on a fishing line.

The shark does not react to Rosenhaus yanking its tale.

Rosenhaus then swam back on the boat.

Shark expert Dr. Chris Lowe told USA Today that Rosenhaus was lucky to escape unharmed.

"The fact that that shark just kind of slowly ambled towards the boat. Kind of banged into the boat, kind of rolled upside down, those are the behaviors we see from a shark that’s either been caught and exhausted from the fight and then released, and they’re kind of groggy," Lowe said.

Lowe explained, "When you grab a shark by the tail that way, they can literally do a circle, come back around, and that’s how most fishermen are bit."

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals slammed Rosenhaus for his behavior against the shark.

"Spending so much time around top athletes must have Drew Rosenhaus feeling like he has something to prove," PETA said in a statement, according to TMZ.

PETA continued, "Aquatic animals already suffer at the hands of anglers who impale them, yank them out of the water, and gut them or leave them to suffocate, so they don't need some wannabe macho man yanking on their tails for a few Twitter 'likes.'"

Rosenhaus has not addressed the backlash he has gotten from PETA.

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Ninth horse dies at Churchill Downs in less than a month, PETA calls iconic racetrack a 'killing field'



Nine horses have died at the iconic Churchill Downs in less than a month.

Racehorse Swanson Lake suffered a "significant" injury to her left hind leg after placing fourth in the $120,000 race at the famed Louisville track. The injured animal was taken off the track in a van. After being examined by veterinarians, Swanson Lake was euthanized.

Swanson Lake, a 3-year-old filly, is the ninth horse to die at Churchill Downs since April 27, including a 10-day period when seven horses died from injuries or collapsing on the racetrack, according to Fox News.

One of the horses who died, Wild on Ice, was supposed to compete in the Kentucky Derby on May 6. The 149th Kentucky Derby was won by a chestnut colt from Kentucky named Mage.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo said in a statement on May 6, "Churchill Downs is a killing field."

Guillermo added, "They should play 'Taps' at the Derby instead of 'My Old Kentucky Home.'"

Meanwhile, notable racehorse trainer Bob Baffert returned on Saturday from his suspension after one of his horses tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Baffert's horse named Havnameltdown suffered a "non-operable left fore fetlock" injury during Saturday's Preakness Stakes undercard at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Havnameltdown was euthanized on the track following the devastating injury.

The Washington Post previously reported in 2021 that at least 74 horses have died in Baffert’s care since 2000.

Guillermo issued a PETA comment on Baffert's horse dying:

Pimlico should have followed Churchill Downs’ example and barred Bob Baffert from the track. Baffert has been implicated in drugging scandals and the deaths of seven horses who collapsed in California, and at least 75 horses in his care have died. The tragic death of Havnameltdown is the latest in a long line of fatalities. The racing industry must kick out the bad guys or it will have blood on its hands as well as blood on its tracks.

However, the Baffert-trained horse named National Treasure won the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. The victory marked Baffert's 17th Triple Crown win and eighth at the Preakness.

"We had a horrible race and we've just been really totally wiped out after that horse got hurt," Baffert said after the race. "It's been a very emotional day."

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Horse dies after race at Churchill Downs, 9th recent fatality at home of Kentucky Derby www.youtube.com

Punny PETA letter presses first lady Jill Biden to block use of real eggs at White House Easter egg roll



People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is pressing first lady Jill Biden to prohibit the use real eggs for the White House Easter egg roll.

In a letter, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk asked the first lady "not to allow the use of real chicken eggs for the White House Easter Egg Roll but to choose instead reusable plastic or wooden eggs—or even lovely painted rocks or egg-shaped balls—all of which would last for years to come."

PETA playfully deployed puns in the letter.

"This update would make the event eggstra special for chickens and inclusive of all children who attend, including those who don't consume eggs for ethical, environmental, or health reasons," the letter read. "Children, who have natural empathy for animals, would be saddened to learn that the eggs at this family event came from mothers who spent their entire lives in cages smaller than a letter-sized sheet of paper, unable to lift a single wing, and were taken from her as soon as they were laid. It's a most fowl irony."

"We hope you'll agree that while families are shelling out nearly 70% more for eggs amid the deadliest avian flu outbreak on record, now is a hopping good time to hatch an Easter tradition that is kind and doesn’t prop up the cruel egg industry. We wish you and your family a very happy Easter and look forward to hearing from you," the letter stated.

The day before millions of Americans chowed down on turkey dinners for Thanksgiving last year, PETA posted a tweet that featured a cartoon depicting turkey-headed characters with human-like bodies preparing to feast upon a human being for dinner. "POV: The dinner tables turned & a family is gathering around your dead body to share why they’re thankful," PETA tweeted.

According to its website, "PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview."

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