Sportsmen's show draws ire from animal rights group

A prominent animal rights organization has Sioux Falls in its cross hairs.

The nonprofit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, commonly known as PETA, is calling on the Sioux Falls Arena and organizers of the Sioux Empire Sportsman’s Show to cancel a planned exhibit called “The Great Bear Show.”

PETA submitted a complaint earlier this year about the Texas-based traveling animal exhibit to the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging its bears suffer from ailments including arthritis, a chronic skin condition and obesity. Its complaint was based on a video it posted online in January showing bears scratching excessively.

PETA first reported the condition of the Great Bear Show bears to the USDA in January 2015. Since then, the Great Bear Show was cited for not properly treating and documenting a skin condition in a bear named Barney. PETA says the newly recorded video is evidence the problems persist.

“The Great Bear Show drags suffering animals, who are often chained, from town to town, forcing them to perform tricks," said Brittany Peet, PETA Foundation director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement, in a release Thursday. "PETA is calling on the Sioux Falls Arena not to host this disgraceful display."

The Great Bear Show is scheduled to perform 11 times during the four-day Sioux Empire Sportsmen’s Show, which runs March 9-12 at the arena and convention center.

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Cenaiko Productions, the company behind the sportsmen event, has used the Great Bear Show during other shows in the region. Most recently, PETA made a similar complaint ahead of Cenaiko Production’s St. Cloud, Minnesota, event where the bears were present.

Calls to Cenaiko Productions were not immediately returned Thursday.

SMG, the company that manages the arena, is aware of PETA’s stance but will not force Cenaiko to drop the attraction from its schedule.

“We don’t contract with them. He contracts with the show itself,” SMG General Manager Terry Torkildson. “(Cenaiko has) said that he has all of his paperwork in order and all the insurance and those things are in place. … We really don’t have any reason to do anything.”

Debbie Metzler, also with PETA’s Captive Animal Law Enforcement division, said if SMG doesn’t bar the Great Bear Show from performing in the arena, the organization will ask its members in the region to flood SMG with complaint calls. Protests outside of the sportsmen event are also on the table, she said.

“That’s definitely a route that could happen depending on the response from the arena,” Metzler said.

Read the USDA inspection reports on the Great Bear Show: