AZVegan Voices
May Meeting
For more information on AZVegan Voices, click
here.
The first meeting of AZVegan Voices was a huge success! We had 15
people show up, filling the little library room to capacity.
The topic for May's meeting was circuses.
The circus will be coming through town at the end of this month and I wanted to
get the press and local officials thinking about the animals that are so
terribly abused in circuses.
One letter that I asked all in attendance to write was to the sponsor of the
circus, America West Arena. Please take a moment to send them your
thoughts.
America West Arena
Paige Peterson, Gen. Manager
America West Arena
P.O. Box 433
Phoenix, AZ 85001
602-379-2000
602-379-2002 (fax)
ppeterson@awarena.com
For other local contact information, click
here. You certainly don't have to write to everyone on the list!
(But kudos to you if you do!) Just pick a handful of contacts that you
feel are most important. You can write a "standard" circus
letter of your own and send versions of that same letter to as many contacts on
the list as you want.
Some points you can include in your
letters:
When animals in circuses are not on display, their miserable lives
consist of cages, chains, and, often, beatings. They have no mental stimulation,
privacy, or exercise. Those animals who naturally roam in family groups are
chained or caged alone. In the ring, the whips, muzzles, and electric
prods remind us that these animals are forced to go against their nature and do
senseless "tricks." After years of traveling, circuses kill,
dump, or abandon unwanted animals. Many countries and states have banned
or severely restricted the use of animals in entertainment. And Sears, Roebuck
& Co. terminated its sponsorship of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum &
Bailey Circus.
Ringling Bros Facts:
• Most Ringling Bros. and Barnum
& Bailey elephants were captured in the wild. Those born in captivity were
still babies when cruelly taken from their mothers.
• Kenny, a baby elephant, died
after Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus forced him to perform while
sick.
• Benjamin, another baby elephant,
drowned as he attempted to escape from a handler chasing and prodding him with a
bullhook.
• Two frightened baby elephants,
Doc and Angelica, were painfully injured when they were dragged away from their
mothers and tied up with ropes.
• A Ringling trainer shot and
killed a caged tiger.
• Ringling trainers have been
videotaped viciously gouging and hitting elephants with sharp metal bullhooks.
More info in circuses that you can
include in your letters:
-
Circuses
- site by PETA Includes links to specific abuses
committed by Ringling Bros.
-
Circuses
- site by the Humane Society of the United States
-
CircusSpotlight.org
- a national clearinghouse for circus information. Comprised of a diverse
coalition of humane organizations and acts as an advocate for wild animals.
In particular, their concern lies with those creatures subjected to the
unnatural and inappropriate living conditions inherent to traveling animal
shows and circuses.
"But for the use of physical punishment by their
oppressors, animals would never be part of a circus."
Richard Pryor
"Don’t support the enslavement of any living being—boycott
circuses that hold animal slaves."
Dick Gregory
Quick letter-writing tips
-
Always be polite - people are much more
likely to listen to you if you aren't yelling at them. :)
-
Know your material - add in facts to
support your views.
-
Use your own words - try to speak from
the heart.
-
You don't have to write a lot - just
make your point quickly and politely. You can write a "standard"
letter of your own and send versions of that same letter to as many contacts on
the list as you want.
For more activist letter-writing
tips, check out the following resources
Important local contact information
Click here for a list of
important addresses. You certainly don't have to write to everyone on the
list.
(But kudos to you if you do!) Just pick a handful of contacts that you
feel are most important.
| 