Support the Ban on The Use of Animals in Brazil's Circuses

FROM  Animal Defenders International (ADI)

ACTION

Ask the Honourable Federal Deputies and Senators to FULLY ENDORSE THE BILL THAT SUBSTITUTES LAW N. 7291 2006 and ban the use of animals in circuses in Brazil.

Sign an online petition

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

We, the undersigned, support the BAN ON THE USE OF ANIMALS IN CIRCUSES, for the following reasons:

• These animals live a lifetime of confinement and frustration in circuses, where the only exercise available is when they go out of their cage to perform in the ring and then they go back again into the cage. Many of them, such as the elephant may walk over 20 miles a day when they are in their natural habitat;
• They are animals that exhibit stereotyped behaviour, because they are deprived from their original habitats and sentenced to a prison for the rest of their lives;
• They are trained using cruel forms: beatings, mutilations, electric shocks, food deprivation, confinement in tiny cages and chains, etc. And are forced to continually play performances totally incompatible with their nature;
• Due to the stress of confinement and the training based on violence, these animals pose great danger to the public and workers in the circus. Other factors may also contribute to the occurrence of these accidents such as the poor or inadequate food and the weak cages;
• We must emphasise the focus on the artist and the evolution of his performance, with improvement of his presentations every day, and not on the exploitation of animals by means of violence and subjugation.

We should remember that the damage and violence to which animals are subjected, a situation inherent to the activity of travelling circuses, are practices that are unacceptable and totally against our Constitution (art. 225, § 1, VII) and the Law of Environmental Crimes (Law 9605 / 98, art. 32). Animal exploitation which undermines sentient beings to mere objects for the amusement of others, subjecting them to all sorts of violence, both physical and mental, must be banned in agreement of environmental education of humanity, animal rights and the pursuit of a culture of non-violence and respect for life.

For all these reasons we ask the Honourable Federal Deputies and Senators to FULLY ENDORSE THE BILL THAT SUBSTITUTES LAW N. 7291 2006.

Thank you for everything you do for animals!