PETA asks Ringling to change its name
By KAREN OGDEN
Tribune Enterprise Editor
An animal welfare group is asking the Montana town of Ringling to change its name, saying it evokes images of animal cruelty.
The community's moniker harkens back to the Ringling brothers of circus fame, who were among the area's early ranchers.
"The name Ringling conjures up in people's minds images of elephants being beaten with bull hooks and tigers being crammed into tiny cages...," said RaeLeann Smith, who specializes in circus issues for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Chicago. "And we think it's a shame for the nice people of Ringling to be associated with that animal cruelty."
To make the request more palatable, PETA is offering an incentive: $15,000 worth of "hearty and humane" veggie burgers.
After he finished laughing, 86-year-old Paul Ringling — grandson of one of the original Ringling brothers — said "it would take the population of Ringling a long time to choke down that many veggie burgers."
The burgers were actually offered to the entire Meagher County School District. Still, there would be plenty to go around, considering there are only 1,999 people countywide, according to the latest Census figures.
They're vastly outnumbered by the county's 47,000 head of cattle.
Rancher Jim Higgins turned up his nose at the veggie burger offer.
"I'll tell ya, I raise beef. That doesn't set well with me at all," said Higgins, who added he wouldn't change Ringling's name for any amount of food or money.
"We're pretty proud of it," he said. "I think most everybody is."
PETA sent the name change request earlier this week to County Commissioner Charles "Bernie" Lucas. He could not be reached for comment Thursday evening, but a clerk confirmed that the county commissioners' office received the request.
Located between Livingston and White Sulphur Springs, the town was named for John Ringling, of Ringling Brothers circus fame, according to "Names on the Face of Montana," by Roberta Carkeek Cheney.
Paul Ringling is the grandson of one of the brothers, Alf T. Ringling. He started working for the circus in 1937 at the age of 17, first in the ticket department and later setting up and taking down circus tents.
Ringling ranches in Carter County, but maintains close ties to the town that bears his family's name.
In his five seasons with the circus, Ringling says he never witnessed cruel treatment.
"The animals in the circus absolutely weren't abused because every day the public saw all of those animals," he said.
He called PETA's name change request "absurd."
"I think they're off in a world of their own," Ringling said. "I think there's more important things in the U.S. going on than changing the name of Ringling."
Smith, with PETA, said her work is focused on the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, "because they really are one of the worst abusers of animals."
The Humane Society of the United States discourages families from supporting any circus that uses wild animals.
And a coalition of animal welfare groups, including the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Fund for Animals, has filed a federal lawsuit against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus alleging mistreatment of Asian elephants, including beatings with bull hooks and separating mothers and babies.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Web site dedicates an entire page to touting its animal husbandry and training practices, saying it reinforces natural behaviors with repetition and rewards.
PETA wants the town of Ringling to return to its original name, Leader, "which conjures up images of strength and enlightenment and forward thinking," Smith said.
But folks in Ringling say their name is about their history, not animal welfare.
Rancher Les Arthun said he cares deeply about animal stewardship. He still ranches the land his grandparents homesteaded east of Ringling in 1914.
"That's our most important role is taking care of farm animals so they can be a productive, God-given thing," he said.
PETA might "have some good points," Arthun said. "But Ringling has been Ringling for a long time."
Arthun is a singer in the popular Montana band "The Ringling 5."
They got their start singing covers of the Jimmy Buffett song "Ringlin', Ringlin' Slippin' Away," which describes a brief stop in the town on a road trip.
"Ringlin', Ringlin' you're just slippin' away. I wonder how many people will be there a year from today..." Buffett ponders.
There's no telling; although Ringling is still on state maps, it's so small that it no longer has its own listing in the Census.
The Ringling school closed last year, but Higgins said the community is hanging on to the building, and hopes to reopen it if some young ones come along.
They also plan to keep their name.
As for the veggie burgers, they'll pass, thank you.