LOUIE TODAY: Ellie exposes circus abuse

An animal welfare proponent costumed as Ellie the elephant will greet students as they leave Williamson Elementary School Wednesday.

The "elephant," with a bloody bandage wrapped around a wound on her head, will hand out activity booklets and explain to kids and their parents that animals used by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus — which is scheduled to visit Youngstown soon — are jabbed with spiked, metal bullhooks and beaten to make them perform difficult tricks that are confusing — and sometimes painful — to them.

Ellie's first stop in town will be Louie's street-front studio on Federal Street, downtown Youngstown.

PETA Director Debbie Leahy said, "If children knew how animals suffer behind the scenes, their smiles would quickly turn to frowns."

The organization has released dozens of never-before-seen photos of circus trainers beating and abusing the elephants under their control, taken inside Ringling's Florida training center by a veteran elephant handler. The photos expose how still-nursing baby elephants are captured rodeo-style and dragged away from their mothers. The babies scream and struggle frantically as they are wrestled, stretched out, slammed to the ground, gouged with steel-tipped bullhooks, and shocked with electric prods. The sessions go on for several hours a day for up to a year to break their spirits.

Listen in or stop by Louie's fishbowl at 20 Federal Place West.