Taking a break from parenting, and endorsing gouging credit card companies, Alec Baldwin trumpets circus boycott over elephant abuse

'Why is there never any mention of the extreme conscientiousness, and not that money matters to them when it come's to animal care, but also costly effort Ringling Bros. has taken to provide superior padding on the rope's for protection of any possibility of discomfort against any possible burn/abrasion? Why can nitwit's only see a non existent "shocker?" Why does that hook laid(resting is an appropriate term also) against the elephants neck, exactly as a spur is laid against a horse's ribs to remind it not to lean on your leg or go in that direction(in the case of the elephant that would be up, as he has been asked to go down) look to people with an agenda as "gouging?"

Battlin’ Alec Baldwin is at war again — and it’s not his ex-wifeKim Basinger or an airline that caught him playing “Words With Friends.”

This time, it’s the circus.

The “30 Rock” star headlines a four-minute YouTube campaign urging Americans to boycott “The Greatest Show on Earth” because of what he alleges is poor treatment of their elephants.

“Having worked with actors for many years, it’s hard to believe that anyone would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into show business,” Baldwin says in video posted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

“But for the elephants for Ringling Bros. and other circuses, that’s exactly what happens.”

Baldwin joins a long list of celebrities, including Jada Pinkett Smith and Ashley Judd, who have spoken out against elephant mistreatment.

In the video, he cites PETA’s multi-state investigation of Ringling Bros., first reported by the Daily News in 2009, that includes undercover video footage of animal handlers beating elephants with metal-tipped bull hooks “just moments before they walked onstage.”

There’s nothing as egregious being alleged now by the organization, but PETA senior vice president Dan Mathews, did call attention to the plight of Siam, a 34-year-old elephant still in Ringling’s shows who they say has been limping and is in pain.

Stephen Payne, a spokesman for the famed circus group, which is performing at the Meadowlands through Sunday, lashed back at PETA for distorting their record and for rehashing the 2009 video.

“The health and vitality of our animals is something we can showcase at every Ringling Bros. performance,” said Payne. “We invite families everywhere to come and see for themselves how all the animals are thriving at ‘The Greatest Show On Earth.’ ”

The drive to stop using wild animals in circuses has accelerated around the world. Britain banned the use of elephants and may add tigers, zebras and camels to the list.

And while Ringling Bros. has admitted no wrongdoing, Feld Entertainment, its parent company, agreed in November to pay a $270,000 civil penalty to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to settle government claims of animal mistreatment.