Campaigns

Animal Awareness organizes campaigns that aim to educate the public, businesses, and legislators about animal use and abuse issues as well as promote the many humane alternatives.
Circus Campaign: Preemptive Community Outreach

Animal Awareness encourages all who can to express the view that animals should not be used in circuses for entertainment purposes to newspapers, to the venues, to the community, and to the media.

This important work is being done before a circus comes to an area so that the public can be made aware of the negative impact that going to the circus will have on the animals. Leafleting is a good educational tool, but it is often too late to turn the public away for that particular performance. Many people say that they feel sorry for the animals once they read the leaflet, but they say that their kids are already excited and they cannot change their plans. This campaign strives to inform the public before they buy their tickets or make plans to go to the circus. Key points about circus animal abuse are below, for more details go to the Animal Awareness page about animals in entertainment.

Please read over our tips on Effective Letter Writing.


4 Ways to Help Circus Animals:
  1. Letters to the Editor and Editorial Opinion Letters. If you email or mail a letter to the editor it will most likely be printed, especially in the smaller local newspapers. That means that tens of thousands of people will potentially be made aware of the reality of what goes on behind the scenes at circuses. The letter that you write could talk about the abuse that animals endure during training, during transport, and throughout their lives. The letter could also encourage the community to write letters as well.

    Click here for a list of community newspapers that accept letters to the editor.
  2. Write letters to the venues that hire animal acts. Write letters (and encourage others to write letters) to the venue yourself. Even if you wrote a letter last year, writing another one will remind them of this important issue. Most venues don't think twice about who they are hiring. Their motive is purely financial profit. Since it's the public that provides them with that profit, they need to hear from you that the public does not want abused wild or domestic animals to be a part of the entertainment that you would come to the venue to see.

    Click here for a list of venues that have hired animal acts.

  3. Direct community outreach. Hand out flyers in your community. Of all the ways to have community outreach (leafleting, picketing, tabling, etc), this is by far the easiest for those who are shy because there is no direct interaction with anyone. Plus, it is the most effective since the flyer makes it into their house and maybe even onto a coffee table for others to see. It's also effective because it's probably viewed as the least radical. Even if someone is outside in their yard, just hand them a flyer and say that you're handing out flyers with circus information. If they are interested in talking further, then by all means, feel free to express your concern about the conditions that the animals are forced to live in.

    A tightly rolled up flyer easily fits into every door situation. Even if there is only a regular knob, just put it on the right of the knob where there is a two inch area between the knob and the wall. When you let go of the rolled up flyer it will unwind a little and fit snug in the area. Houses with storm doors work the best because many have a handle that the flyer can be slid into without falling.

    If you are interested, please sign up to hand out flyers, info@animalawareness.org. We will either mail you flyers or you can download the PDF of the flyer and print it out yourself. (note: the copier at Kinko's is better quality than at Staples or Office Depot.) To download the flyer (242k), you must have the free Adobe Acrobat reader. If you do choose to print your own flyers, please contact us to find out what areas have already been covered by volunteers and to let us know what area you will be covering. Thank you.

  4. Write letters to the Media. The circus season in Maryland will be starting up in a couple months. Asking the media to shed light on this topic is a great way to reach large numbers of the public and inform them about the negative impact that their attendance at these circuses will have on the animals. It would help the cause if the media were made aware that this is a topic that the public wants more coverage about prior to the circus season beginning, therefore the media outlets need to receive your letters. Media coverage exposing the plight of the animals and what they endure just to bring "entertainment" to the public is invaluable and is one of the most effective ways to make the public aware of the horrifying life that these animals are forced to live.

Thank you for all that you do giving a voice to those who cannot speak up for themselves!


Some points to highlight when discussing why animals should not be used in animal acts:
  1. Separation of families. Not only do these animals grow up and live without the bonds of their family, but they are also forced to live without the bonds of friendship. Due to their intense confinement and chaining, they are usually not able to have access to socialization. And, in the few times over their life that they are able to find companionship, it is not long-term since animals are bought and sold as deemed convenient to the circus. This is especially true since many circuses lease out their animals to other circuses.

  2. Barbaric training methods used to break the spirits of wild animals and make them succumb to the trainers' commands. See www.circuswatch.com for undercover video of the training methods used to "break" an elephant. Animals are "taught" tricks through severe beating, use of bull hooks, and electric prods. They are even forced to defecate on command before a show so that they do not make a mess during the show, which might hinder the "enjoyment" for the spectators.

  3. Extreme weather conditions and intense confinement during their constant transport from state to state.

  4. Forced to live in their own excrement while chained and caged, which is only cleaned on the whim and convenience of the animal keeper.

  5. Forced to only have food or water at the whim and convenience of the animal keeper.

  6. Forced to wear humiliating costumes and perform unnatural tricks on a grueling and exhausting schedule.

  7. Perpetuates the thought that animals are ours to use as we wish when the reality is, "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men."
    -- Alice Walker




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