On Behalf Of Circus Animals

A group protesting the Shriners' Circus in Lake Havasu, AZ.

As time goes on in the 21st century, more people are noticing the conditions under which circus animals toil for humans. After all, what the animals do is not fun for them. Tigers, lions, elephants and other animals naturally live in a wild environment, free to roam for their food and drink. Not so with circus animals.

As those who have watched any circus come to town, their animals don't get much living space. They are trained by individuals who can frequently veer into hitting and whipping animals because those animals didn't get the act they were being induced to perform.



Add in the appearance of Cirque du Soleil, which presents acts with humans, without any animals, and people started wising up and realizing that circuses could be entertaining without forcing animals into confinement and the only time out of their narrow cages being the "acts" they perform in front of audiences.

Enter Carrie LeBlanc and Adam Sugelski, who founded CIRCUSPROTEST.COM, an advocacy group that protests the conditions under which circus animals are forced to live, educates the public about circuses that have animals, and advocates for circuses without animals.

Carrie stated, "We feel that the unnecessary suffering of any being is unjust and impacts the well-being of every animal (both human and non-human) on this planet. We seek to correct the imbalance created in this world by the imprisonment and enslavement of animals ripped from their habitats and their families in order to serve as menial entertainment for humans."

This organization's website focuses on protest materials, manners when dealing with those who don't agree with protesters, offering protest materials that can be downloaded and made into posters and other materials, an online guidebook to protests, and a listing of circuses that don't use animals. Many of the protests which the group supports are listed online, so that interested individuals in those parts of this country can join in.

One of the instruments of torment used by trainers is the bullhook, used on elephants, that pierces the skin and is painful.

CircusProtest.com is also joined with CompassionWorksInternational. Those who access the Facebook page and wish to sign specific petitions generally find them on the latter. Those who join in protesting the treatment and use of circus animals have occasionally experienced some gains, including the intent of Ringling Brothers to release its elephants to recognized humane sanctuaries. But until those elephants come off the circus circuit and the other animals that are forced to perform for human entertainment are also placed at humane sanctuaries, protesters are still demonstrating and handing out literature, so the animals have a chance to stay in their wild environments with others of their kind.

Four-year-old Charlotte hands out leaflets at a protest outside of Ringling Bros. in LA.

Thanks for information from this article on Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/carrie-leblanc-adam-sugalski-furthering-awareness-of-circus-cruelty/; and the above link.

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