ANIMAL rights group PETA has failed in its latest bid to ban animal acts from a circus.
City bosses threw out a request by PETA USA after deciding the group’s cruelty claims had no proof.
Commissioners at Woodward City, Oklahoma, denied the request and said animals at the Carson and Barnes Circus were well cared for after a newspaper investigation gave it the all clear.
Woodward Mayor John Meinders said: “If you know what PETA is and what it stands for, you will understand my decision not to support it.
“As a mayor, I will deny this request and won’t change a thing.”
Local news reporter Sarah Nishimuta from the Woodward News probed Peta’s claims and said they had no foundation.
She said: I was looking for something that was obviously wrong.
“Everything was clean. Animals had plenty of hay and fresh water. None of them looked malnourished or scarred.”
The journalist later stated that the circus staff made it very clear that they have nothing to hide.
PETA had sent a letter to Woodward City Manager Alan Riffel stating that circuses are notorious violators of animal welfare laws.
It urged commissioners to ban all circus performances that use animals as a part of their programme.
Animal rights activists have also unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the Circus World in Baraboo over the circus’ use of animal performance acts.
