Just two years after the Ringling Brothers circus conceded that elephants do not, in fact, enjoy standing on their heads, the associated Barnum & Bailey performers of the animal cracker kingdom have been freed.
Mondelez International, the parent company of Nabisco, has redesigned the packaging of its Barnum’s Animals crackers in response to pressure from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The former boxes, which endured with only periodic short-term redesigns, featured different species of animals kept separate from each other inside cages — Mama Ape with Baby Ape, Mama Zebra with Baby Zebra and so on.
PETA, which has been protesting the use of animals in circuses for more than 30 years, wrote a letter to Mondelez in the spring of 2016 calling for a redesign.
“Given the egregious cruelty inherent in circuses that use animals and the public’s swelling opposition to the exploitation of animals used for entertainment, we urge Nabisco to update its packaging in order to show animals who are free to roam in their natural habitats,” PETA said in its letter.
The animals in the new-and-improved PETA-pushed box stand side by side, the zebra next to the elephant, next to the lion next to the giraffe, next to the ape.
And while they don’t exactly look like they’re in their natural habitats in the new box, they at least look happier and seem to be getting along famously, except, perhaps, for the zebra and the ape, who appear they might have an issue with each other.
Still, the victory is more than symbolic, PETA spokesman Ben Williamson told Patch.
“I think the key for us is the animals are no longer kept behind bars in tiny box cars and moved around the country,” he said, adding, “We think the new boxes celebrate society’s new developments.”
Nabisco has been making Barnum’s Animals crackers since 1902. (Yes, it’s officially the unpronounceable Animals crackers, plural on the animals, not the commonly misstated Animal crackers, which at least can be said.)
The crackers have outlived their namesake circus: Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey.
The circus folded its tents in 2017 after 146 years. The deathblow may very well have been the removal of elephants from its shows a year earlier after PETA and other animal protectors complained about the cruelty beasts endured to be trained.
“The only way to get elephants and other wild animals to perform is through the threat of physical violence and actual physical violence,” PETA’s Williamson said. Training the elephants was particularly cruel, he said, because it relied on “bullhooks,” a long-handled tool with a hook on the end that handlers would slap into the animals.
Mondelez officials say they happily agreed to set the animals free after receiving the letter from PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
“It’s probably one of, if not the oldest, (product) in our portfolio,” Mondelez spokeswoman Kimberly Fontes told USA Today. “We’re always looking to see how to keep it modern, to keep it contemporary with customers.”
(Lead AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall. In-body AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato.)
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