Heavy blowback over elephants at Lebanon Fair
Jacob Hazzard, 2, with his father Stuart Gingrich, both of Myerstown, feeding an elephant at First Responder’s Day at the Lebanon Area Fair July 22, 2018. (Merriell Moyer/Lebanon Daily News)
(Lebanon) — The 2018 Lebanon Area Fair garnered attention across the United States and even internationally this week, though the publicity was largely negative.
Animal rights advocates are up in arms over the fair’s inclusion of Elephant Adventures, a show featuring live, trained elephants performing for human audiences.
Activists claim the elephants are abused, passing along YouTube videos alleged to document evidence of the animals’ mistreatment. The videos appear to capture trainers from Oklahoma-based Carson & Barnes Circus describing or in the act of harming performing elephants.
The Lebanon Area Fair’s contract is with Elephant Adventures, not Carson & Barnes, and fair officials are unaware of any relationship between the companies. Officials also maintain the belief the elephants at the fair are unharmed.
“We are assured as an organization by the fact that this company is randomly inspected by the USDA for everything from animal health, to living conditions, to treatment of the animals,” said Emily Summey, Lebanon Fair spokesperson, in a statement.
“It is in the company’s best interest to treat their elephants with the best possible care. We encourage everyone to come out to the Fair and see the elephants and the show themselves and draw their own conclusions about how the elephants are treated.”
An elephant waits out the rain under a tent Tuesday, July 24, the Lebanon Area Fair. (Andrew Kulp/Lebanon Daily News)
Still, the Lebanon Daily News fielded dozens of calls and emails from concerned citizens in New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana, even from people as far as the United Kingdom and Australia.
“Enough outrage has surrounded the exploitation of elephants and there is no excuse for venues to be ignorant about this,” wrote an Australian woman.
“People from all around the world are standing up for the rights of these beautiful, sentient beings being exploited for money. It’s unacceptable and needs to change immediately.”
Summey confirmed the Lebanon Fair also received calls regarding Elephant Adventures. However, their phones are manned by over two dozen volunteers during the week of the fair due to call volume, and there was no way to track how many were specifically regarding the elephants.
Elephants were part of the fair in the past, but not in the last five years. Since then, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus famously eliminated elephants from their performances due to intensifying public scrutiny into the animals’ treatment and well-being, before ceasing operations altogether in 2017.
Not all companies stopped the practice of training elephants for public amusement, however. Carson & Barnes continues to make the animals a centerpiece of their shows, and is currently in the crosshairs of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, which is investigating the circus.
“Before accepting the Lebanon Area Fair officials’ blanket assurances about the elephant’s well-being, visit
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