As 2012 came to an end, however, what the ASPCA did not advertise was the fact that, on December 26, $9.3 million in contributions did not go to “save” animals but to Feld Entertainment, the family-controlled company that since 1967 has owned Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which has been in continuous operation since 1919. In settling its lawsuit against “The Greatest Show on Earth,” the ASPCA was admonished by the judge hearing the case that it should have never been filed in the first place, primarily because the group used a paid plaintiff.

While these organizations — all tax-exempt 501(c)3s — can vary in size, their goal is the same, says Frankie Trull, a science activist and lobbyist involved in university-based animal research: “These groups believe that animals are not ours to be used to eat or wear — or for entertainment.”

Specifically, the groups believe that when a handler employs chains and a bullhook—a long cane, made of wood or fiberglass, with a sharp, curved metal end—to control an elephant, a pain-free method of guiding elephants that has been in use for decades (think guiding a dog with a leash), he is abusing the animal. But the groups needed an individual with standing to bring suit. That was Tom Rider, a former employee who worked for Ringling Brothers from June 1997 until November 1999, first as a “barn helper” and then as a “barn man,” in the Blue Unit traveling show. (A second traveling show is the Red Unit.) In essence an assistant to an elephant handler, Rider gave food and water to seven Asian elephants—Karen, Nicole, Lutzi, Zina, Mysore, Susan, and Jewell—as well as cleaning up after them.

The original lawsuit was filed on July 11, 2000 by the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) on behalf of the ASPCA, AWI, FFA, Tom Rider, and three other individuals. In December, PAWS and the three individuals dropped out, leaving Rider, ASPCA, FFA, and AWI. Using the Endangered Species Act, the complaint alleged that Ringling Brothers “takes” its Asian elephants — “take” is a general term for “harming,” “harassing,” or “wounding” — by employing chains and bullhooks on them, which in turn caused Rider to suffer “aesthetic or emotional injury” because he witnessed this behavior after developing a “strong personal attachment” to the elephants. The groups demanded that Ringling Brothers stop “taking” Asian elephants, a protected endangered species; forfeit possession of the elephants it owns (54 at present); and pay the groups’ legal fees.

In 2005, the Humane Society became involved in the suit when it acquired the assets of the Fund for Animals; the Animal Protection Institute joined the next year. After almost a decade of legal action—motions, appeals, hearing upon hearing, discovery—a non-jury trial took place before United States District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in the District of Columbia in February and March of 2009.

In the trial, Tom Rider, the star witness for the plaintiffs, proved to be problematic. Even though he referred to the elephants as his “girls” and claimed to have a “personal” and “emotional” attachment to them on par with the one he had for his two daughters and his grandson, he was unable to identify the elephants in videotaped footage.

Moreover, Rider’s own employment record indicated he was not upset by the way elephants are handed in a circus. Before Ringling Brothers, he worked for Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus, where he used chains and a bullhook in handling elephants. During his two-and-a-half years at Ringling Brothers, he never complained about elephant mistreatment to the media, circus veterinarians, United States Department of Agriculture inspectors, or his supervisor. When Rider did leave Ringling Brothers, it was not because of the elephants but because the Blue Unit’s traveling show ended. Then he traveled to Europe where he handled elephants owned by Richard Chipperfield that were performing in a circus, again using chains and a bullhook.