PETA's invisible elephant in the room

By Casey Lyons in Out & About, Picket Lines

Tue., Sep. 15 2009 @ 2:00PM

Remember the crying baby elephant statue that PETA was trying to gift to the city to protest the circus's treatment of animals? Well, that didn't work out. Instead, they got a permit to display Ella PhantzPeril, as the thing is called, on the corner of Grand and Pershing. Not exactly the city's busiest corner.

"We were hoping for a spot with more foot traffic," said Jill Oakley, a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals intern from British Columbia, Canada. When I saw her at 5:30 p.m., Oakley had been on shift since 1 p.m. She said she'd handed out about 50 fliers, but given the loneliness of the street corner, it looked like PETA's action against the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus amounted to a protest of one.

Still, Oakley was giving out gruesome DVDs documenting alleged animal torture as filmed by one of PETA's undercover operatives, and doing what she could to change minds about going to the Over the Top circus.

She also said PETA had something in mind for tomorrow's elephant walk (no, not the one you were forced to do as a fraternity pledge), which will parade from Union Station to the Sprint Center.