USDA Files Charges Against Abusive Circus Trainer
Act Now To Get Elephant Queenie To A Sanctuary
 IDA is very pleased to report that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed formal charges against circus trainer Will Davenport ("Maximus Tons of Fun") for his abusive and negligent treatment of the elephants Tina, Jewel and Queenie, and for defying federal officials who attempted to protect the elephants.
The complaint alleges 19 violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), stating that “the gravity of the violations alleged … is great” and that Davenport has “not shown good faith” in his repeated unwillingness to comply with the AWA and regulations.
IDA has worked for over 2 years, with help from our members, to rescue these 3 elephants, monitoring them as they traveled around the country with circuses, filing complaint after complaint with the USDA and urging the agency to take action to rescue them from Davenport. In August, the USDA, in conjunction with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, removed Tina and Jewel and sent them to the San Diego Zoo, where they are receiving essential veterinary care. Davenport also surrendered his exhibitor’s license. However, the USDA, claiming that they had no grounds for taking Queenie, left her behind with Davenport.
 She has been seen chained to a tree on his Leggett, Texas property.
Your thousands of calls, emails and faxes led to the removal of Tina and Jewel from the grips of the incompetent and abusive Davenport. Now you have helped lead the USDA to take this enormous step toward finally rescuing Queenie as well. But we must keep the pressure on the USDA to take Queenie out of Davenport’s hands and to ensure that she is placed in an elephant sanctuary.
Please make a phone call or send a fax today!
Even if you have already called the USDA, please take a moment today to leave a telephone message for the Secretary of Agriculture, and call or e-mail the Acting Administrator of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (contact info below).
Urge the agency to press for Queenie’s immediate release from Davenport’s custody to a sanctuary where her safety and well-being can be assured.
Tell the USDA:
- You commend the USDA's filing of charges against Davenport. However, it is now even more inconceivable that the agency would leave Queenie in the "care" of the man charged with so many serious AWA violations.
- The USDA’s complaint provides a clear avenue for helping Queenie, and the agency must now 1) ensure that Davenport gives up his "ownership" of Queenie, and 2) facilitate her transfer to either the PAWS sanctuary in California or The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, both of which stand ready to accept Queenie. There is no excuse for sending her to a zoo. She has been on exhibit long enough, and deserves a peaceful retirement now.
- It is extremely urgent that Queenie be sent to a sanctuary, where she can live the rest of her life in spacious, natural conditions, and not be condemned to spend her remaining years in a zoo where inadequate conditions cause elephants to suffer and die prematurely.
USDA Contact Information:
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack:
Phone: 202 720-3631, Fax: 202-720-2166.
Acting APHIS Administrator Kevin Shea:
Phone: 202-720-3861, E-mail: Kevin.A.Shea@usda.gov
Contact Congress Too!
Ask your Congressperson and Senators to urge Secretary Vilsack to rescue Queenie and transfer her to a sanctuary. If they have been responsive in the past, be sure to thank them for their previous help in securing Tina and Jewel’s confiscation, but let them know that Queenie has been left behind in dire circumstances.
Find your federal representatives here.
Please continue to call and email all of these officials until Queenie is safely at either the PAWS sanctuary in California or The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.
Click here for more information on Tina, Jewel and Queenie.
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