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Home Page We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts. Animal Defenders of Westchester |
Articles Pace student's reaction to Hanneford circus
This article was written by Pace University student Robert Rigo, for a
course entitled ANIMALS AND SOCIETY. This is Rob's 'Reaction' paper after
he assisted at the Hanneford circus protest in February - thanks so much for
your help, Rob!: Robert Rigo February 22, 2006 It was Saturday morning, the wind was whipping violently across the
fa�ade of the Westchester County Center making the below freezing
temperature feel even colder. Not even harsh temperatures and a little wind
could keep the members of Animal Defenders of Westchester from voicing their
opinions about the treatment of the animals in the Royal Hanneford Circus.
I joined the spokesperson for the Animal Defenders of
Westchester and her team at about 11.30am. Instantly, I was given a stack
of flyers that revealed the sad story of animal life in the circus. There
was also an educational comic that talked about the life of an elephant in
the circus that I distributed to the passing children. As I passed out the flyers to both pedestrians on the street and circus
goers the response I got from the majority was shocking. Many did not seem
to care and discarded the information leaving the wind to take it away.
Some, with their heads down, didn�t even stop to give me the time of day.
I wondered if they were really to busy, or were they embarrassed or ashamed
that they just attended the circus having knowledge of this issue. Out of
the dozens of people I came in contact with, one person, a middle aged man
with his children, stopped and praised the team for standing up for the
animals. He explained how he was completely in the dark about the
situation, and had he had the knowledge before hand, he would have chose to
spend his Saturday afternoon doing something else. Before finding out in class how these animals are being treated I didn�t
have an opinion about the circus. Now, that I am further educated, I am
both embarrassed and ashamed to say that I have attended one.
In this day and age there are a countless amount of other things people
can do to entertain themselves, especially things that don�t include
exploiting poor innocent animals. I think if more people were informed,
there opinions would change just as fast as mine did. Although, it seemed
like I only helped to inform one person successfully the Animal Defenders of
Westchester had a huge present there and many felt it. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has" Fair Use Notice: This document may contain
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