Displaying items by tag: Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus

If you're a regular listener to The Jasen Sokol Show, you probably know Jessica Burkhart-Zuschin as one of the Akron Life panelists on the Weekend Preview. But before she worked for Akron Life, Burkhart-Zuschin had a career in the circus, including a year working on the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. She joined Jasen to react to the shutdown of the Greatest Show on Earth and respond to some of the criticisms of the circus.

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A local band is whipping up funds to benefit a big organization.

Akron new wave band Devo plans to donate a portion of the royalties from their 1980 hit "Whip It" to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. It's part of an effort to encourage circuses to stop whipping their lions, tigers, and other animals during training according to the Beacon Journal.

The senior vice president of PETA, Dan Mathews, reached out to band member Gerald Casale to direct an awareness video on the subject. Casale agreed after being shown footage of the harsh treatment of animals by circuses.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus recently announced that it will no longer be featuring elephants in their shows starting this year, so activists are now focusing on other circus animals.

Casale says his group's signature song was an "obvious choice" for the campaign because it is their most successful, and because of the irony of the title.  

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