You might have met Nosey on Facebook,
but I met her on Care2. Here Piper Hoffman shared the story of this 30-year-old abused
elephant. Though sick and
suffering, she nevertheless is made to perform by her uncaring owner.
An attempt was made to inform UniverSoul's
CEO, Cedric Walker, about her sad state of health, but he ignored the 28,500 petitions
signed by caring people in just
two days. Unmoved by this act of compassion, he decided to do business with Hugo
"Tommy" Liebel who
someone so well described as so heartless that he may just be impersonating a human being.
And since then, Nosey also just finished
performing at the Arenac County Fair in Standish, Michigan--Another company that obviously
paid no attention to the pleas of
petition signers.
However, there were some other groups
though who responded compassionately to Nosey's plight. When Peta and individual
animal lovers informed The Blue
Water Fest of Nosey's suffering, this caring company told Liebel to take a hike!
Beautiful.
Also concerned about
Nosey, the Western Michigan Fair in Ludington refused to hire
Nosey to give rides. I hope compassionate
groups like this will also follow the example of some EU countries who no longer allow animals in their circuses because of the abuse so many have to
endure.
In Nosey's case, activists are making a
difference and Liebel is trying to escape the public eye. He even has renamed Nosey
as Tiny, Dumbo, or Peanut to fool
the public. But he has failed in this regard to hide his cruelty, and word has gotten out.
Now Nosey even has her own
Facebook page with information about upcoming performances. The site also tells
how to protest the companies
that pay Liebel to exploit her. People of compassion will not pay to see Nosey suffer.
And where is the USDA in all of
this? Hoffman reported that they scheduled a hearing on Liebel's long-running violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Even though
these violations were based on
multiple government inspections of Nosey's pitiful condition and 109,000 readers signed a
petition calling for the USDA to rescue
Nosey from Liebel, it never happened.
Eight days before the hearing, the
agency reached a settlement with Liebel, fining him a pathetic $7,500. They let Nosey
down big time.
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