Tell Congress: STOP Circus Suffering
Action Alert from All-Creatures.org

FROM ADI Animal Defenders International
May 2019

ACTION

Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA) will amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the use of exotic and wild animals in traveling performances.

Contact your Senators and Representative NOW in support of TEAPSPA. Phone calls are especially effective, so please follow up your email with a call. Constituent voices are very powerful and can open doors to the most surprising places.

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SAMPLE LETTERS / TALKING POINTS:

Sample letter 1

Dear Member of Congress,

I am writing as a constituent to ask for your support of federal legislation to prohibit traveling wild and exotic animal performances. The Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA) addresses an important issue that gravely concerns me about the welfare of wild animals forced to perform in traveling performances.

Careful research and detailed undercover investigations have shown the welfare of animals is unacceptably compromised under the confinement and cruel training practices that are inherent in traveling performances. Wild, chronically stressed animals kept in close quarters with the public has proven to be a public safety hazard; escaped animals have injured and even killed members of the public.

Every time we allow a majestic wild animal to be reduced to a cheap circus trick, we turn a blind eye to cruelty, we advance the belief that it is acceptable to be inhumane, and we set a poor example for our children. Simply put, animal acts are antiquated and belong in the past. Entertaining contemporary circuses like Cirque du Soleil prove that the show will go on without abused animals.

Around the world, 45 countries have already banned such acts nationally. Two US states, and more than 90 local US jurisdictions, have also acted, as have hundreds of localities globally – over 200 in the UK, and hundreds in Europe, South America, and Asia.

The time is now to act! Please follow the will of your compassionate constituents to address this well-documented animal welfare and public safety issue.

Thank you for your public service, and I look forward to hearing from you on this important matter.

Sincerely,
Name and contact information


Sample letter 2

Dear Member of Congress,

As your constituent and a citizen concerned with animal welfare, please focus your thoughtful attention to the issue of animals suffering in traveling performances. I would like to ask you to please support the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA) to prohibit the use of wild and exotic animals in traveling performances.

As the internet and educational television programs expand our understanding of the natural world and the amazing creatures we share it with, Americans are increasingly becoming more sensitive to the complex needs of animals. Most now say they are concerned about the use of animals in circuses. With that education comes the growing understanding that these animals cannot have their most basic welfare requirements met under the harsh constraints of life on the road in a traveling circus. The suffering of animals forced to live in chains and small cages, enduring the boredom and brutal training inherent in the circus industry has been well documented as a systemic problem. History has repeatedly shown that these wild animals can and do escape, endangering themselves and the public.

Around the world, 45 countries, including Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Singapore, Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia, and Guatemala, have adopted national legislation prohibiting the use of wild and exotic animals in circuses. Two US states and 95 local US jurisdictions have also acted, as have hundreds of localities around the world; over 200 in the UK and hundreds more in Europe, South America, and Asia.

I therefore respectfully ask you to join with other leaders to begin the work of addressing this issue here in the United States – it’s time to support TEAPSPA.

I appreciate all of your hard work in the district, and I hope I can count on you to address this and other pressing animal welfare issues in the future.

Sincerely,
Name and contact information


Sample letter 3

Dear Member of Congress,

I am writing as a constituent concerned about the welfare of wild animals forced to perform in traveling circuses in the US. I would like to ask you to please support the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA) to prohibit the use of wild and exotic animals in traveling performances.

Americans are becoming increasingly aware that circus animals suffer from severe confinement, inherent to traveling acts given the constraints of a difficult life of constant travel on the road. Wild animals spend long hours chained in small cages, or crowded into trailers and train cars.

A circus animal’s life is one of ongoing deprivation, punctuated by physical violence. For many years, investigations have documented a systemic pattern of abusive training methods where pain, punishment and fear are employed to force these wild animals to perform unnatural tricks. The tools of the trade include bullhooks, whips, electric prods, and even standard husbandry tools such as shovels and pitchforks, which are used to hit, “hook,” and shock animals.

Globally, 45 countries have passed national legislation to prohibit the use of wild and exotic animals in circuses. Two US states, and 95 local US jurisdictions have also acted, as have hundreds of localities around the world; over 200 UK localities and hundreds of others in the rest of Europe, South America, and Asia. I respectfully call on you to take a stand, with your compassionate constituents, against this abuse and work toward protecting circus animals – please support TEAPSPA.

Sincerely,
Name and contact information

Thank you for everything you do for animals!

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