100 signatures reached
To: Senator Joe Nguyen, Governor Jay Inslee, and the Washington State Legislature
Ban wild animal acts in circuses in Washington State
Dear Senator Nguyen, Governor Inslee, and the Washington State Legislature,
My name is Madeleine Rose Lee. I am 9 years old and I go to Thurgood Marshall Elementary. I am in 3rd grade. I was reading a book called The One and Only Ivan by Katharine Applegate and I read about circus animals getting treated badly. It made me wonder “does it happen in real life?” and “does it still happen today?”
I asked my parents and they told me to do research about it. I looked at lots of different websites and I found out the answer was yes. I also learned about how they cruelly treat their animals. Something I learned is all the traveling circuses in the country have gotten a fine for hurting wild animals. 6 states have banned circuses having wild animals. But Washington is not one of them. I am asking you to ban circuses with wild animals because it is cruel, and other people agree.
Sincerely,
Madeleine Lee
Why is this important?
The problem is that wild animals in circuses are not getting treated well. An example, according to Reuters, is in 2011 the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined the Ringling Bros—one of the biggest circuses in the country—for mistreating the wild animals in their circus acts. It was the biggest fine ever under the Animal Welfare Act (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usda-ringling-idUSTRE7AS2AG20111129/). And this is just one example of many.
According to PETA, circus people make animals do tricks by hurting them with: whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bull hooks and other hurtful tools (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usda-ringling-idUSTRE7AS2AG20111129/). Also, according to PETA, when circuses people are traveling with wild animals, they sometimes don’t get enough food or water, they also are squeezed into small spaces and chained. They also rarely get their cages cleaned so they can get really sick. There are also lots of other circus tricks that don’t include animals. People watching circus tricks are still amazed without animals. According to Animal Legal and Historical Center, the biggest threat to wild animals in a circus is being mistreated by the people who work there (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usda-ringling-idUSTRE7AS2AG20111129/). There are six states that have banned wild animals in circuses. They are: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York (https://www.cga.ct.gov/2022/rpt/pdf/2022-R-0026.pdf).
Why is Washington not one of the states that has banned wild animals in circuses?
We are asking your support to ban wild animals in circuses in Washington State.