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( To read in the original printable Microsoft Word doc, click here)

January 26, 2004

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Courtenay Tosti (formerly Courtenay Warren). I worked at Carson & Barnes Circus C&B) during 1993 when I was 21 years old. The following is an account of what I witnessed while working at the circus.

Many of the people working at C&B were on the run from something they had done. I was warned to be careful when I joined as 2 workers had supposedly killed their wives, and were known to brutalize women. My boss, John "JB" Brooks, cursed at me constantly and frequently hit me.

The Millers, who own the circus, had various skins and skulls of deceased performing animals, including a tiger skin and a hippo skull, decorating their homes and offices.

Owners told me that I would be sorry if I ever told what I saw. Based on what I had heard and the tone used by my superiors, I felt as if they were threatening me with physical harm. When I stood crying as they dumped the body of Nelson, a Siberian tiger, into a trash bin Gary Byrd approached me and said that if I knew what was good for me I would keep quiet.

All of the animals were stressed out much of the time, and some of them got very aggressive. Margaret, the elephant, chased a man up a pole, tried on numerous occasions to karate-kick me as she would go past, and was always in trouble. 

A member of the prop crew got too close to the tiger cage one night and a tiger grabbed the boys head with his paw and inflicted deep wounds. I saw the injured boy right after the attack, he was sitting on a chair, with his head between his knees, blood was pouring out of a couple of large holes in his head.

The owners and handlers knew how dangerous the animals were. However, that did not stop them from putting the animals near the spectators. Even certain elephants who were known to have killed people and were considered "insane" were not kept away from the public. It was very easy for the public to approach the elephants on the picket line from the rear, which startles them, and as I was in the security department I was frequently forced to make entire families leave the elephants area, where they would bring their children right up to the chained elephants to pet them, oblivious to how deadly this could be. If no one was watching closely people would often duck the useless barriers in front of the Cat Cages and approach the big cats, sometimes holding their children up for a better look.

I never saw a vet attend to any animals when they were on the road.

While having a difficult birth, a four-horned sheep was put into a hot trailer and left alone. She could be heard screaming but no one attended her, she died.

A wallaby had open, festering wounds and was not provided with vet care.

A horse, Rick, was allowed to eat moldy hay and died.

A Siberian tiger, Nelson, was ill, supposedly from pneumonia, and laid down in the chute as it was no longer able to stand. Several handlers stabbed at him with bullhooks to get him to move. He was not given vet care, and died soon thereafter. His body was picked up by a front-end loader and dumped in a trash bin. I was told that his skin would be kept.

A pygmy hippo, Katy, was not given water to lay in, and her back was cracked and bloody. I inquired about this and was told that a pygmy was not a 'water hippo', and that water only irritated her back. The hippo from the year before died at a young age.

Animals were often left out in the hot sun, the rain, and in extreme  temperatures, sometimes below freezing. I saw Goliath, a white rhinoceros, huddled against the back of his cage trying to stay warm. I saw the zebra, standing head down, shivering in the snow.

The elephants were not allowed to cover themselves with mud or water because it would mess up the performers uniforms. Their skin was very dry and cracked, and would often bleed. If  they attempted to throw water on their backs they were beaten.

The elephants were only fed hay and sweet feed, which caused them to suffer digestive problems, including diarrhea.

All of the elephant handlers went into the barn at winter quarters to blow torch the hair off the elephants, which could tear a performers uniform. They would close the doors but you could hear the elephants screaming, and smell the burning hair and skin. I later saw black marks on the elephants bodies. When I asked about it I was told it was from the blow-torching, but that it 'didn't hurt'.

It was well known that new handlers were taught to be mean and aggressive to the animals. When they were not mean enough, they were reprimanded, taken off animal duty, or fired. I witnessed one handler, Oakie Carrs son-in-law, harshly criticizing a new elephant handler for not being more aggressive with Bunny, the elephant in his charge.

I often saw camels being hit and one time I saw a handler, Reggie Lindsey, curse at a camel and whack it on its hind legs, with his bullhook.

The handlers took great pride in concocting newer and more violent torture devices. They would put nails and hooks into baseball bats. They would put larger hooks, the type used by firemen to tear open walls, into the creation of their bullhooks. Their devices put ordinary bullhooks to shame.

I observed one practice training session in the barn at the winter quarters. The trainer struck the elephants over and over, and called them filthy names. They were struck on their eyes and genital areas.

Elephants were constantly beaten every day. The handlers yanked and stabbed at them with the hook, and hit them with baseball bats. This was done because the elephants did not respond quickly enough to a command, because the elephants were doing something that annoyed the handlers, like playing with the picket line, and often for no apparent reason. 

An elephant named Mona, reputedly crippled during her training, had severe back problems but continued to travel with the circus until she fell out of the trailer twice and was mortally injured.

Alta, one of the elephants Reggie Lindsey was in charge of, turned and ran out of the tent during the show, knocking cars out of her way. She was brought back and beaten severely by Lindsey. Lindsey often beat her, and she ran like this more than once.

Becky the elephant was forced to perform when she had a painful foot infection. She walked very slowly with a limp, and was struck and yelled at to get her to move more quickly.

Despite suffering from arthritis, Minnie was forced to do the routine called the long mount where all the elephants stand propped on each others backs in a row. Each time she did it she would wince, shake her head and scream in pain.

Margaret was an elephant who was often in trouble. In order to teach her a lesson, 6 or 7 elephant handlers surrounded her and began beating her ruthlessly as she was chained front and back legs. Some of them stabbed at her legs to keep her off balance while one beat her over the head with a baseball bat until she was bloody. She fell forward and started crying, shaking, urinating and defecating. It went on for several minutes.

Kay, a matriarchal elephant well into her fifties was very sick with kidney problems. She was forced to perform even though she was very ill. She died while the circus was performing in Taylorville, Ill. She was standing and since she was chained to the picket line, her body just tilted forward. All of the other elephants became hysterical and were screaming and trying to touch her and offer assistance, but they couldn't move because they, too, were chained.

I have heard the animals agonizing cries for help go unanswered. I have heard the circus people lie to the public about how the animals are treated. I share this information in hopes that the public will understand the degree of immense pain and suffering, beatings and neglect, and illnesses and deaths that circus animals experience on a regular basis and refuse to support it.

Sincerely,

Courtenay Tosti

(817)312-9797