The producer of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the self-proclaimed "Greatest Show on Earth," has sued animal-rights groups, claiming they paid a former circus employee to help them fight alleged abuses.
Feld Entertainment Inc., which filed the complaint Tuesday in federal court in Washington, says the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other groups paid more than $100,000 to Tom Rider, a former employee, to file lawsuits against the company and testify before U.S. lawmakers on proposed legislation. Rider, who's also named in the suit, accepted additional funds from a Washington law firm that represents nonprofit groups, according to the complaint.
"This lawsuit is a direct result of the animal-rights extremists' agenda to deny families in the United States entertainment choices like the circus and their ongoing conspiracy to harm Feld Entertainment," company spokesman Stephen Payne said Wednesday.
The suit is the latest salvo in a seven-year legal battle that has pitted the Vienna, Va.-based company against animal-rights groups over the treatment of animals at the circus, formed by the merger of two circus troupes 88 years ago. The case was brought under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act originally enacted to combat organized crime groups.
In addition to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA, the complaint names the Animal Protection Institute, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Wildlife Advocacy Project as defendants. They're accused in the complaint of engaging in bribery, obstruction of justice and fraud.
Kathy Meyer, a lawyer at Meyer, Glitzenstein & Crystal who represents the ASPCA, said Rider was never bribed and that the lawsuit is retaliation for his "incredibly effective" media campaign against the abuse of endangered Asian elephants by handlers at Ringling Bros. Meyer, Glitzenstein, which isn't a defendant in the case, is accused in the complaint of making inappropriate payments to Rider.
"Rider has received foundation grants to pay for his living expenses as he goes around the country, speaking to reporters, grass-roots groups and legislative entities," Meyer said Wednesday in an interview. "He's been doing that for seven years and lives out of a used Volkswagen van."
Nicole Paquette, director of legal affairs at the Animal Protection Institute, said Feld's conspiracy theory is a "last- ditch attempt" to harass the national organizations that have come out against it.
"Feld is diverting attention away from the real issue, which is the abuse of elephants in its care," Paquette said Wednesday in an interview.
The case is related to a suit pending in the same court, in which the animal rights groups accuse Feld of violating the Endangered Species Act. District Judge Emmet Sullivan last week denied Feld's attempt to include the racketeering claims in that case, which is expected to go to trial next year.
Tracy Silverman, general counsel at the Animal Welfare Institute, said Feld's racketeering complaint was "unfortunate." Sullivan, who has been randomly assigned the new case, had just "thrown them out" a few days earlier, Silverman said.
"Ringling Bros. is just scared because we have a strong case," Silverman said. "The money Feld is referring to was used strictly for Rider's media campaign and for outreach."
The ASPCA, which filed the earlier suit in 2003, asked Sullivan to allow three more former Feld employees to testify against the company. Those workers claim to have witnessed elephant cruelty before leaving the circus last summer, according to the group.
Sullivan last week narrowed the scope of the earlier case by ruling that ASPCA's claims involving endangered species don't apply to Asian elephants born in the U.S. Feld has 21 Asian elephants that were bred in the U.S. and 33 that were acquired from various Southeast Asian countries, according to Payne.
The groups claim the animals are mistreated by trainers. Rider testified on Capitol Hill when Congress was considering the Elephant Accident Prevention Act in 2000 that would have banned elephants from circuses. Since then, he testified before state legislatures in Nebraska, Massachusetts and Connecticut in support of legislation to ban the so-called bullhooks used by trainers.
Feld contends Rider was being bribed for his testimony.
"The payments were mischaracterized and the groups frequently changed the way they described them," Payne said. "It was Rider's sole source of income. Whether or not it's a lot of money over seven years isn't material. That's for a jury to decide."