Lindsey Vesolowski is a junior at California Baptist University, and when she joined their speech and debate team last fall, her professor told her she had the opportunity to write a speech on anything she wanted. “Why not write about something I am passionate about?” Lindsey thought, and she picked the topic of animal abuse in circuses and highlighted the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act (HR 3359). Introduced by Animal Defenders International (ADI) with Representative Jim Moran (D-VA,) this federal legislation aims to protect wild animals from being forced to perform in traveling circuses in the US.
Lindsey is pictured with ADI’s Campaigns Director Matt Rossell, her mom Cheryl and Matt’s daughter Felix at a recent Shrine Circus demo in Los Angeles.
Lindsey had participated in protests outside performances of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey the previous summer. “Seeing the animals look so miserable stayed with me,” Lindsey said. “I wanted to give them a voice.” She told her professor the topic and he was very responsive towards it. Lindsey went to three tournaments with that speech, each time getting a shocked response. Competitors approached her after each tournament and told her they had no idea what happened behind the scenes at circuses, that they would not be attending any more circuses, and that they were going to support the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act.
What you can do:
You don’t have to join a speech team to find creative ways to incorporate outreach for circus animals in your everyday life.
Contact ADI for business-sized Break the Chain outreach cards which have a link to our Action Alert for the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act. Keep them in your purse or wallet, then, when you are talking to family and friends about the plight of animals in the circus, you can hand them a card with an easy action for them to make a difference.
Festival goers stop by the 22reasons booth to view the video of circus animal abuse provided by ADI
Break the Chain volunteer district organizers Marianne Bessey and Gigi Glendinning, spent a fulfilling day speaking up for circus animals at the Chestnut Hill Home & Garden Festival in Philadelphia last weekend. More than 20,000 people attended the event and many stopped by the table of Marianne & Gigi’s grassroots group,22reasons, where they got to see and feel a real bullhook and learn about how they can make a difference in the lives of suffering circus animals. Thanks to a three minute video provided by Animal Defenders International, festival-goers were educated about the routine violence documented in undercover investigations behind-the-scenes in traveling circuses. Conversations about compassion and reverence for animals took place all day, with all ages, and everyone was encouraged to call their Representative in Congress to ask for their support of the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act (H.R. 3359) which aims to restrict the use of wild animals in traveling circuses in the US and break the chain of circus abuse!
What you can do:
Set up a table at festivals, fairs, or street markets in your community this summer, or simply attend those events and pass out leaflets to passers-by. Contact ADIto let us know your ideas, and we can provide materials such as DVDs, leaflets and posters.
Host a ‘TEAPA’ party! Invite friends over and use the opportunity to tell them about the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act. Click here for a list of important talking points and facts to mention and Contact our office for a video, materials and ideas.
Outreach to members of the public when the circus comes to town!Contact us for leaflets, posters, media support or advice on how to have a successful outreach event.
Write a Letter to the Editor or an Opinion/Editorial article for your local newspaper.Click here to see sample letters and talking points!
Donate to ADI! We need funds to continue undercover investigations of circus abuse and grow our body of evidence to support the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act. Click hereto make a secure, tax-deductible on-line donation.
A young volunteer helps draw attention to the 22reasons booth by dressing as an elephant
Elephants that starred with Witherspoon and Pattinson back in the circus
ADI says stars must end their silence on the abuse of animal actors
Tai in the ring with Shrine Circus. The tricks that appeared in Water for Elephants were taught with electric shocks and beatings. The stars moved on, Tai’s nightmare continues.
Footage released by Animal Defenders International (ADI) today shows the stars of Hollywood movies ‘Water for Elephants’ and ‘Zookeeper’ back in the circus, appearing with El Zagal Shrine Circus, in Fargo, North Dakota.
The video shows presenter Joanne Smith, a trainer with animal act supplier Have Trunk Will Travel, confirm that the two elephants giving rides and performing headstands with the circus are Tai, star of Water for Elephants and Rosie, who appeared in Zookeeper.
If you want ADI to keep exposing the suffering and working to save elephants like Tai, donate now.
Jan Creamer, President of ADI: “The links between Hollywood and the circus industry are exposed. There was no Hollywood ending for Tai and Rosie. For Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson Water for Elephants was a romantic fantasy. For Tai, it is a nightmare reality. She remains in the hands of those people caught on film beating and electric shocking her. There are no glamorous premieres for Tai, her life is one pain and fear, inflicted by so-called trainers. It’s tragic.”
Water for Elephants was met with a storm of controversy last year after ADI released undercover footage of Tai being beaten and electric shocked at Have Trunk Will Travel.
ADI released the footage after the film’s makers, stars, American Humane, and Have Trunk Will Travel themselves, claimed the elephant had been treated with love and affection and never abused.
ADI sent copies of the video to the studio, producers, director and stars Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon. Pattinson and Witherspoon had previously issued statements expressing how much they cared for the elephant that shared the screen with them. No one replied.
Letters were also sent to the makers of Zookeeper and its star, Kevin James. No response.
Jan Creamer: “At the time we genuinely believed that Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon had been duped. We sent them the video and asked them to speak out. Not a word. The abuse of performing animals in movies is not going to stop until the stars speak out.”
Today, ADI have posted the latest video on the Facebook pages and Twitter feeds of Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, and Kevin James, asking that they speak out against the abuse and support the ADI campaign. DVDs are also being mailed to the stars.
The exposé by ADI of Have Trunk Will Travel, suppliers of elephants to almost countless adverts and movies, and the recent halting of TV show Luck, following the deaths of horses, shows that animal suffering and abuse remains a serious problem in movie and TV production.
The ADI video of training at Have Trunk Will Travel in Perris, California shows:
Elephants being repeatedly electric shocked with stun guns to force them to perform tricks.
Elephants being hooked and beaten with bullhooks.
A baby elephant being hit, having the air supply through his trunk cut off, and even being hooked inside the mouth.
ADI Victory! Santa Ana Zoo and the Orange County Fair recently ended elephant rides using animal supplied by Have Trunk Will Travel, after months of campaigning by ADI and a coalition of advocates and elephant experts using the video evidence gathered in our undercover investigation.
Jan Creamer: ‘The recent decision by the Orange County Fair Board shows that when people weigh up the evidence they will say ‘no’ to animal suffering for entertainment. If Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Kevin James and others would come out and condemn the abuse and back TEAPA, HR3359, it would go a long way to restoring the industry’s tarnished image.”
Welcome to Break The Chain, the campaign to bring an end to circus animal suffering in the USA, led by Animal Defenders International.
Here you will find latest updates from the campaign, reports and briefings on the issues surrounding the use of animals in circuses, as well as educational videos.
