http://www.rickandbubba.com/bhampostherald_011001.asp
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD
Animals' defender bears taunts
Half-naked woman braves chill, hecklers
By ANDY ACTON
Perla de la Parra, kneeling half-naked in a cage on Birmingham's Southside, braved more than the freezing cold nipping at her skin.
The animal rights volunteer — covered in orange and black-striped body paint and wearing only a tiger-ear headband and black underwear — also endured taunts from radio's "The Rick and Bubba Show."
De la Parra, a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, went to Southside Tuesday to protest the treatment of animals in a circus that is coming to Birmingham later this month. But she didn't have the center ring to herself.
Calvin "Speed Racer" Wilburn, the producer of the "Rick and Bubba Show," turned the protest into a two-ring circus. He showed up in his own cage to protest PETA.
Wilburn, dressed in blue jeans, a gray shirt and a black leather jacket, ate a McDonald's hamburger.
"We love meat! People enjoy tasty animals," Wilburn shouted through a bullhorn.
Other staff members of the program, which airs on WYSF (94.5 FM), accompanied Wilburn, holding signs protesting PETA and tossing beef jerky into the crowd. The show's stunt was to be broadcast this morning on the program.
This was the second time that de la Parra, 25, of Mexico City, had protested half-naked for PETA. For the entire hour she was at 20th Street and 11th Avenue South in Five Points South, de la Parra held a sign over her breasts that read: "Wild Animals Don't Belong Behind Bars."
PETA, known for its sometimes extreme protests against cruelty to animals, camped out on the Southside corner to object to the Birmingham visit of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus on Jan. 24. Another PETA sign read: "Their abuse, your entertainment."
PETA spokeswoman Kristie Phelps, who was holding signs with other PETA volunteers, said circuses are cruel to animals.
"The animals are ripped from their natural habitat ... and made to perform tricks under the threat of being punished," she said.
The 135-year-old circus denied that it mistreated animals and disputed a PETA brochure saying the circus was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for animal cruelty.
"It's too bad that special-interest groups resort to using cheap, irresponsible tricks such as exposing a woman's body to get media attention. ... Our animal-care staff consists of experts who devote their love to living and working with and caring for animals 365 days of the year," Ringling Bros. officials said in a prepared statement.
Wilburn, who had a bag of pork rinds in his cage, said he wanted to protest PETA because of a "God-given right to eat meat."
Supported by a crowd of on-lookers who laughed and pointed at de la Parra, Wilburn also said people have a right to see animals at the circus without PETA interference.
Later, de la Parra, sitting in a local coffee shop in a white bathrobe, said she was not bothered by the hecklers. She said she hoped she stirred awareness of animal cruelty.
"When you get naked, you know there's going to be a reaction," she said. "At least I didn't get arrested."