Tell Sault Ste. Marie to Ban Cruel Animal Acts

BACKGROUND

At its November 5 meeting, the Sault Ste. Marie City Council in Ontario will debate whether exotic- and wild-animal acts should be banned in the city. Councillor Terry Sheehan plans to describe how circuses and other traveling shows abuse exotic animals in order to force them to perform. He will also explain that allowing the public to have such close contact with large, dangerous animals puts people at risk. Exotic and wild animals who are forced to perform in traveling acts are denied everything that is natural and important to them. Their lives consist of being confined to boxcars, trailers, or trucks for days at a time, often without adequate food, water, or veterinary care. Tigers and lions are shoved into cages that are barely large enough for them to turn around in, and elephants are kept in chains for up to 100 hours at a time.

Undercover video footage of training sessions has shown that elephants are beaten with bullhooks (rods that resemble a fireplace poker with a sharp steel hook at one end) and shocked with electric prods and that big cats are dragged by heavy chains around their necks and hit with sticks. Trainers with Carson & Barnes Circus have even been documented using blowtorches on elephants.

But cities around the world, including dozens of Canadian municipalities, have banned or are in the process of banning traveling animal acts.

Please e-mail the Sault Ste. Marie councillors and urge them to keep cruel traveling animal acts out of the city. If you have ties to Ontario, or especially to Sault Ste. Marie, please be sure to recognize that in your correspondence.


WHOM TO CONTACT

Block email:

r.wysynski@cityssm.on.ca ; s.butland@cityssm.on.ca ; p.christian@cityssm.on.ca ; t.sheehan@cityssm.on.ca ; b.watkins@cityssm.on.ca ; r.niro@cityssm.on.ca ; l.turco@cityssm.on.ca ; m.bruni@cityssm.on.ca ; f.fata@cityssm.on.ca ; j.krmpotich@cityssm.on.ca

Individual:

The Honourable  Debbie Amaroso
Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie
r.wysynski@cityssm.on.ca

The Honourable  Steve Butland
Councillor
Sault Ste. Marie City Council
s.butland@cityssm.on.ca

The Honourable Paul Christian
Councillor
Sault Ste. Marie City Council
p.christian@cityssm.on.ca

The Honourable  Terry Sheehan
Councillor
Sault Ste. Marie City Council
t.sheehan@cityssm.on.ca

The Honourable Brian Watkins
Councillor
Sault Ste. Marie City Council
b.watkins@cityssm.on.ca

The Honourable Rick Niroa
Councillor
Sault Ste. Marie City Council
r.niro@cityssm.on.ca

The Honourable Lou Turco
Councillor
Sault Ste. Marie City Council
l.turco@cityssm.on.ca

The Honourable Marchy Bruni
Councillor
Sault Ste. Marie City Council
m.bruni@cityssm.on.ca

The Honourable Frank Fata
Councillor
Sault Ste. Marie City Council
f.fata@cityssm.on.ca

The Honourable Joe Krmpotich
Councillor
Sault Ste. Marie City Council
j.krmpotich@cityssm.on.ca


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Honourable Councillors,

I am writing to request that the Sault Ste. Marie City Council votes on November 5 to ban exotic- and wild-animal acts in the city.  Animals in these types of acts suffer substandard lifestyles, inadequate space and diets, inferior medical treatment and care, lack of companionship, involuntary training, beatings, and tormenting conditions.

The documented negligence to which the animals are subjected has been well established, and although you may assert that humane protocols must be followed in accordance with certain standards, the visual evidence validates the position that these directives are ultimately ignored in favor of profit.

Please watch undercover footage at the following to discover a sampling of the brutality animals endure for human entertainment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2LZ6rw1e7g.

I hope you make the compassionate decision to discontinue the negligence of these animals and reject complicity in the unethical industry that profits from their suffering. However, as long as Sault Ste. Marie unnecessarily capitalizes on the exploitation, imprisonment, and maltreatment of animals, I will not consider it for a vacation destination. It is important to recognize that consumers and tourists are increasingly rejecting those areas that are complicit in the suffering and unnecessary treatment of animals by shifting their loyalties to those places that do not participate in the exploitation of them, and I hope that you will extend such an ethical and empathetic gesture as well.

I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this urgent situation.

NAME

we are living, feeling beings,
and that is a fact.
we were born to be free,
not one of your acts.
put yourselves in our place,
you would be dying of this
torment,
and yearning for space.
so think of us, then remember
this could have been you,
please ban animal acts,
this is the right thing to do.

signed, all those who have been burned, chained, poked, starved, neglected and all those you can save from this fate

Karen Lyons Kalmenson