That headline, from the Daily News, is not a model of clarity. Maybe it should be, “What happens when you sue someone based on a witness’s testimony and your witness gets discredited because you paid him an awful lot of money for his testimony”?
The story and the lawsuit have to do with elephants, the ASPCA, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the Endangered Species Act, an (over)paid under-elephant-cover informant who lost credibility and … what else?
A heaping lot of money, that’s what else. Which the ASPCA has to pay to Ringling Bros, surprise. I wonder how depleted are the funds of the ASPCA now. Does this mean their TV fund-raising will take over the tube?
Meanwhile, this story reminded me of at least one wondrous performance at MSG, watching (and crushing on) Gunther Gebel Williams and all his animals, and the elephants running around the ring holding the tails of the ahead elephants in their mouths. Or their trunks, not sure. (I was spending more time sighing over Gebel Williams, to tell you the truth. It was his cheekbones, if you really want to know.)
Anyway, here’s the whole story with an OK photo of the elephants: ASPCA to pay $9.3 million of owner of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in elephant lawsuit – NY Daily News.