ADI
Animal Defenders International
September 2017
Please urge your congressmember to co-sponsor the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (HR 1759) which, if passed, would prohibit the use of wild and exotic animals in traveling circuses. TEAPSPA recently added 3 more co-sponsors, encourage your Congressmember to sign on! Ask your senators to support a senate bill. Take action here - Congress must act to stop circus suffering.
The past two weeks have highlighted the progress we are making for
animals, but also the huge challenges we still face.
It was exciting to see ADI’s work recognized by the Albert Einstein
Foundation as part of the Genius 100: Innovation Summit in Montreal, Canada.
I spoke alongside entrepreneurs, tech innovators, doctors, Nobel laureates,
astronauts, spiritual leaders and social reformers on my vision for animals
and the environment and what needs to be done to heal the destructive
behavior of humans towards the other species living on our planet; including
ending the damage to the earth. Appropriately, the events closed with a
human-only circus show. We also picked up news coverage highlighting our
work http://bit.ly/2fnwkeC
We are making progress towards the world in the vision I outlined in
Montreal.
Last week, Santa Fe, New Mexico banned wild animals in circuses. New
Jersey saw yet another ban, when Clifton joined Jersey City, Vineland and
the counties of Hudson, Cumberland, Passaic and Bergen with bans – the state
could soon be a "no go" area for animal circuses!
In California, Trione Vineyards and Winery responded to our undercover
evidence of systematic elephant abuse by canceling next month’s appearance
by Have Trunk Will Travel. Lebanon passed national legislation making animal
abuse a crime and banning certain species, including elephants, tigers, and
chimpanzees from circuses.
But one sad saga involving the big cats of circus trainer Alexander Lacey
shows there is no room for complacency, we must increase our work!
Alexander Lacey is no stranger to ADI; we filmed and exposed his animal
abuse 20 years ago. Our undercover investigators filmed him and one of his
workers jabbing and hitting his tigers. When a lioness, Narla, was attacked
and seriously injured by a male tiger, Lacey hid her from a visiting animal
welfare inspector. His father Martin Lacey was the same, hiding the elephant
chains and hasps from inspectors visiting the Great British Circus, even as
he claimed that he did not chain the elephants. ADI cameras caught both
lies.
Alexander Lacey took his performing animals to the US to appear with
Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, America’s largest animal circus –
however Ringling Bros. promptly closed this summer!
This month during a travel break one of Lacey’s tigers, Suzy, escaped
without anyone noticing. She was shot dead by police in the street in
Georgia. The animals’ transporter, Ringling’s parent company Feld
Entertainment, said that they didn’t even know Suzy was missing until they
reached their destination!
And just days before the animals left Memphis, the big cat trainer was in
trouble again, failing to notify the Arkansas wildlife authorities that his
animals would be housed in the state temporarily, their location only
discovered following a tip-off.
A battle has been raging to make sure Lacey’s seven tigers, six lions and a
leopard were retired in the US rather than be re-exported to Europe to
appear with a circus in Germany. Last month, USFWS authorized the export.
Alexander Lacey appeared at the last show by Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus
Alexander Lacey will be appearing with Zirkus Charles Knie and
Heilbronner Weihnachts in Germany, but don’t be surprised if he turns up in
the UK again, thanks to the government failure to deliver the ban. He may
even return to the US.
The story highlights the problem with animal circuses, the impoverished
conditions these animals endure on the road; ineffectual government
oversight; safety issues linked to lightweight, collapsible animal
accommodation, and that these businesses move constantly.
Please urge your congressmember to co-sponsor the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (HR 1759) which, if passed, would prohibit the use of wild and exotic animals in traveling circuses. TEAPSPA recently added 3 more co-sponsors, encourage your Congressmember to sign on! Ask your senators to support a senate bill. Take action here - Congress must act to stop circus suffering.
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