State Officials Deny Permit for Elephant Show at Colorado Renaissance Festival
State officials have denied a permit for an elephant show at the Colorado Renaissance Festival following pressure from an animal advocacy group threatening legal action.
The Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, based at the University of Denver, had warned Colorado Parks and Wildlife of a potential lawsuit if they issued a permit for the annual elephant show by Trunks and Humps.
The group alleged that the elephant show at the festival in Larkspur violated Colorado law prohibiting the use of elephants and other animals in traveling acts, as well as forcing the animals to perform unnatural behaviors.
Justin Marceau, director of the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project and a law professor at DU, praised the decision to deny the permit, stating, “Colorado has admirably outlawed the degrading, abusive use of elephants and other animals in cruel traveling circuses. These animals deserve to be treated with dignity, not dragged from city to city and forced to perform tricks for our entertainment.”
This is a developing story and may be updated.
