New Britney Spears video uses lions, elephants

Britney Spears CD Tops Charts, But ‘Circus’ Video Gets Slammed by PETA
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Britney Spears’ comeback album “Circus” has reached the top the Billboard 200 list.

“Circus” has sold a projected 500,000 copies in it’s first week, according to Jive records, vaulting it past albums from artists including Mariah Carey, Madonna, Beyonce and Janet Jackson.

Now officially on the rebound, Spears has made several high-profile appearances for “Circus,” and plans a nationwide tour in March.

But that doesn’t mean controversy has stopped following the paparazzi magnet.

This time, Spears is in trouble with the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for using lions and elephants in the video for her new single “Circus.”

The activist group said that exhibitors who provided the live lions and elephants for the video, Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife, and Have Trunk Will Travel, both have “long histories of exploiting animals.”

According to Michael McGraw, a spokesman for PETA, circuses use a training method that “inflicts pain on elephants.”

“Britney could have used stock footage of elephant herds in their natural habitat to portray elephants in a positive and nurturing setting,” McGraw told FOXNews.com. “She also could have utilized animations or animatronics instead of live animals.”

Spears’ rep provided FOXNews.com with a letter from the American Humane Association, which was on the set for the filming of the video

“After reviewing the reports, we believe that the Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media were followed and that no animal was harmed in the making of this music video,” a post production manager wrote.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,464797,00.html

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