Stop Circus Suffering

ADI and local group HARTE campaign against Ringling Bros. to ‘Break the Chain’ on circus suffering

ADI partners with Helping Animal Rights Through Education (HARTE) in peaceful protest against Ringing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Animal Defenders International (ADI), a leading animal protection group, has added Helping Animal Rights Through Education (HARTE) to its list of Break The Chain campaign partners in peaceful protest against Ringing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The circus will perform with captive wild animals at the Augusta Richmond County Civic Center from March 3 – 6, 2011, in Augusta, Georgia.

HARTE, a local group for animal welfare, works to educate the public about the cruelty that circus animals endure in order to entertain an uninformed audience of spectators.

“Just four years ago, we started with a single protestor and have since grown to a group of nearly 40 like minded individuals who just want to see animals treated humanely and compassionately,” said Breeda O’Mahoney, founder of HARTE.

“HARTE peacefully demonstrates in protest at the Ringling circus because we believe that mankind must stop interfering with the lives of animals that belong in the wild rather than in the ring and in cages where they suffer for our casual amusement.”

Animal Defenders International President Jan Creamer said, “Break The Chain has been making a strong impact with its growing campaign presence in local communities through the advocacy of groups like HARTE. As our educational campaign continues to build across the U.S., we hope the movement against circus cruelty will eventually lead to a legislative ban here, adding it to the growing list of progressively and compassionately minded nations.”

As the leader of the Break The Chain campaign, ADI works with animal rights and welfare organizations across the U.S. to bring awareness on a local grassroots level to the communities in which animal circuses perform. Providing campaign assistance, program guidance and educational materials to local campaigners, ADI also reaches out to local governments to communicate its scientific findings to end circus suffering.

For more than 18 years, ADI has effectively produced overwhelming and undeniable evidence of suffering of animals in circuses as a result of extreme confinement, the constant traveling nature of these shows, and cruel training practices.

ADI’s two-year undercover investigation on circus cruelty shocked the world, resulting in major changes in the U.S., South America and European countries.

Courts in many countries have used ADI’s evidence to prosecute offenders while governments have been compelled to change laws in favor of partial or complete bans, such as the recent passing of Bolivian law 4040, which prohibits any and all use of animals in Bolivian circuses.

TV presenter and famed animal rights advocate Bob Barker has generously supported ADI’s objectives as an ADI Ambassador. He recently funded ADI’s Operation Lion Ark, a complex and historic air lift of 25 former circus lions thousands of miles to Denver from Bolivia, which ADI fully emptied of its circus animals earlier this month.

Leave a comment on this story

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.