Animal Rights Groups Pay Circus Nearly $16M in Settlement Over Elephant Abuse Allegations

One of the most drawn out and embarrassing legal battles in animal rights history finally ended in a nearly $16 million settlement in favor of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

On May 15, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and several other animal rights groups paid $15.75 million to Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, after it emerged that they bribed a former Ringling employee to say that the circus was abusing their elephants.

The circus employee, Tom Rider, was reportedly paid nearly $200,000 to say the elephants were being mistreated.

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This settlement ends a nearly 14-year legal battle between Feld Entertainment and 12 other parties surrounding the abuse claims that according to the US District Court, turned out to be "frivolous," "vexatious," and "groundless and unreasonable from its inception."

“This case should never have been brought and should not have continued as long as it did,” Stephen Payne, a spokesperson for Feld Entertainment, told VICE News.

This follows a previous settlement that Feld Entertainment has already received in connection to this case from another high profile animal advocacy group.

Two years ago, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was forced to pay more than $9 million on charges of racketeering and bribery.

ASPCA, along with other groups, first sued Feld in 2000 in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

It emerged in 2009 that the allegations were baseless and the groups had bribed Rider to be a “paid plaintiff.”

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Feld then responded by charging the various animal rights groups under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in a counter suit.

HSUS was not a plaintiff in the case but merged with the Fund for Animals who was a plaintiff originally in the 2000 case. In a statement on their website, HSUS said, “we believe it was prudent for the parties to settle, because this court would never address the core claims of elephant abuse.”

The President and CEO of HSUS added that no donor dollars will be going to pay the settlement and urged Feld to donate the settlement money to fighting elephant poaching and help protect endangered elephants.

Meyer Glitzenstein and Crystal, the law firm that represented the animal rights groups said in a statement that it, “believes that it would have successfully defeated the RICO case” but agreed to the settlement in the interest of finally ending the drawn-out case.

"We hope this settlement payment, and the various court decisions that found against these animal rights activists and their attorneys, will deter individuals and organizations from bringing frivolous litigation like this in the future," said Kenneth Feld, CEO of Feld Entertainment, said in a statement last week.

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“These animal rights groups have an extremist agenda and they are opposed to animals in any form of entertainment,” said Payne. “We are advocates for animal welfare and the care and well being of the animals are our number one concern.” Payne maintained that this case was unprecedented and Feld categorically denies that there is any abuse towards elephants but this is not the first time Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus has come under fire for their treatment of animals.

In 2011, The US Department of Agriculture ordered Feld Entertainment to pay $270,000 in fines for violating the Animal Welfare Act over their treatment of circus elephants.

A year-long investigation by Mother Jones uncovered alleged mistreatment of elephants that included forcing the elephants to perform while injured, using bull hooks, failure to adequately care for them when they were sick and keeping them in confined quarters for extended periods of time. PETA has also led a campaign for years against the use of elephants in Ringling shows.

This settlement deal comes just six days after an accident at a Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus performance in Providence that left nine performers injured, two of whom critically. Faulty carabiners were blamed for causing an aerial apparatus to collapse and drop the acrobats during the show.

Follow Olivia Becker on Twitter: @obecker928

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