PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Darlene Harris is defending a Facebook picture of herself riding a circus elephant.

Harris says she posted the picture of the Shrine Circus elephant and another of her riding a camel because she “thought they were cute.” The circus was at PPG Paints Arena over the weekend.

The Democrat rejected critics’ claims that circus animals are abused saying, “Those animals are taken care of better than some people take care of people.”