Animal rights attorneys are threatening to sue Colorado Parks and Wildlife for issuing a permit for a company to bring elephants to the Colorado Renaissance Festival, claiming the permit violates state law.
In a letter to state officials Wednesday, the Animal Activity Legal Defense Project demanded that CPW refuse to issue a permit, or revoke a permit that has already been issued to Trunks and Humps for the summertime fair, which typically attracts thousands to Larkspur each year.
“Issuing a permit to display elephants at the Renaissance Festival would be a blatant violation of a law that was enacted to prevent that very thing,” Justin Marceau, director of the project and University of Denver law professor said Wednesday in a statement. “We will not hesitate to take legal action to protect these animals.”
Colorado’s Traveling Animal Protection Act prohibits the use of elephants, primates, bears, dolphins and other animals in traveling animal acts. The legislation was passed in 2021.
A person who violates the act would be charged with a misdemeanor and could face a fine ranging from $250 to $ 1,000 per violation.
A CPW spokesperson did not immediately respond to The Colorado Sun’s questions about the allegations or if a permit had been issued.
Attorneys claim that Texas-based Trunks and Humps’ traveling animal act solely exhibits elephants for entertainment purposes, rather than educational, and used a video from last year’s fair to claim that the elephants were engaging in “unnatural tricks.”
The video, shared by the attorneys, was recorded by an expert in elephant behavior and shows a handler holding a bull hook next to the elephant, Krissy. Another handler is seen giving two elephants watermelons throughout the performance.
“Based on my more than 12 years of experience studying elephant behavior, the Trunks and Humps elephants are without a doubt being forced to perform behaviors that are not part of their natural behavioral repertoire,” Michael Pardo, elephant behaviorist and biologist at Cornell University said in a statement sent along with the news release.
The Colorado Renaissance Festival describes the elephant exhibit as “an educational experience” on its website and lists times for when guests can see the elephants this summer.
Bill Swain, operator of Trunks and Humps, testified in opposition of the 2021 law barring traveling animal acts before it was passed.
Angie Cue, of Colorado Association of Fairs and Shows, also opposed the measure, saying that exotic animal exhibitors are already highly regulated, licensed and inspected and often work with zoos and conservation organizations.
“It is imperative to them, as responsible animal owners, that they not only abide by federal and state rules and regulations, but more importantly that the care they give these animals is humane,” Cue wrote in a 2020 letter Sen. Kerry Donovan.
It’s not clear how many years the fair has hosted Trunks and Humps and its elephants, but in 2017, an international animal welfare organization, Animal Defenders International, also accused the company of mistreating an elephant at the Colorado Renaissance Festival.
The claim came after a video allegedly showed a Trunk and Humps’ operator “viciously attacking an elephant named Krissy using a bull hook, golf club and stun gun,” The Colorado Springs Gazette reported.
Swain denied that it was Krissy, or his employee, in the video, the newspaper said.
Swain could not immediately be reached Wednesday. An organizer for the fair did not immediately return a request for comment.
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