Colorful pageantry disguises the fact that animals used in circuses are mere captives forced to perform unnatural and often painful acts. If the public would become more aware of the details of the animal’s treatment, lack of vet care, confinement, training and "retirement", perhaps we can abolish this type of animal cruelty. Taking animals and beating them into submissiveness so they can perform unnatual and demeaning acts to make money for people is not the way we ought to teach our children about wildlife. The life of any animal in a circus is not a good life. We are told to respect animals, but circuses do not respect them, animals are only an instrument used to make money. They set them aside and disregard them until it is their turn to perform, then afterwards they are tied up again to be ignored until loaded in their cages. They are denied proper diets, exercise and medical care.
Circuses are outdated! With technology such as tv, computers, video, and other means, children no longer need a circus to come to town to view an animal! Especially one made to do silly tricks and/or dress funny. "Taking animals and beating them into submissiveness so they can perform unnatual and demeaning acts to make money for people is not the way we ought to teach our children about wildlife." Period! Help end this type of animal cruelty in Champaign-Urbana! Collinsville, IL bans performing animal displays! So can we, if we come together, I have proven one single person can not fight this battle alone! Please HELP!
Click here for a letter that was printed in the Letters to the Editor section of the News Gazette on September 7, 2000. They edited out the above section, which I felt was the most important part of the letter. The entire letter was also sent to the Octopus, a local alternative free weekly paper, and the Daily Illini, a local university newspaper. (Neither to my knowledge have printed any of it or bothered to email me back) I also sent letters to the mayors of Champaign-Urbana, and the National Guard.
Click here for a letter that was sent to the USDA regional fax, including the picture in the News Gazette on August 29th, 2000 of the circus at the Champaign Armory on the 28th.
Serveral animal links:
Lightworker's Homepage Includes links for the fight against South Korea to ban the dog "stew". The site provides a list of companies that do test on animals, and a list of those that do not test on animals. Remember many companies claim their "finished formulations" are not tested on animals, that does not mean that the early stages are not tested on animals. Look for Vegan only companies, that is the best way to ensure that was no animal harmed for human vanity.
The Students Imporving the Lives of Animals aka SILA is a University of Urbana-Champaign student organized group. SILA is dedicated to educating U of I students and local communities about the exploitation of non-human animals and animal welfare. They believe that all animals have inherent dignity and deserve respect. SILA is pro-science, pro-environment, and pro-people; we are committed to dialogue and reason, but not afraid to take nonviolent action when necessary to save animals from inhumane treatment.
(Not only does their name stand for "Students Improving the Lives of Animals", but it also has a deeper meaning. According to Walpola Rahula (What the Buddha Thought, p46): "Ethical conduct (Sila) is built on the vast conception of universal love and compassion for living beings, on which the Buddha's teaching is based.")
Previously they were known as Animal Rights Coalition. At which time,
Their goal stated, "We are dedicated to raising awareness of the rights of animals at the University of Illinois through nonviolent action. This includes infractions such as dissection, experimentation, mistreatment, and exploitation of animals. We believe that animals are not meant for human usage and it is our responsibility to protect them on our campus, in our community, and in the world."
Sites supporting animal rights and welfare:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Humane
Society of the United States
World Wildlife Fund
Defenders
of Wildlife
Greenpeace
Animal
Welfare Institute
Animal
Legal Defense Fund
Animal
Shelters and Directories
Illinois Animal Action
Animal Laws or
Animal Laws 2
Animal Cruelty ActionLine
Envirolink
Rainforest
Action Network Citizens
Puppy Mill Rescue
Petitions:
Thank you for all your support. We can not save the world, but we can make a difference where we are. Please help ban animal circuses from Champaign-Urbana.
Have a great day!!
"We need another and wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourseves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth." -The Outermost House by Henry Beston copyright 1928!!! Can you believe that someone saw this in 1928?
since September 20, 2000.
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