Ask Your Representative to Support the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act!

Send appropriate Sample Letter below depending on whether your representative supports TEAPA or not.  Find and write to your Representative HERE.  Find out HERE or see the following for those who support TEAPA, but this list can change daily so double check:


Cosponsors:

Sam Farr [D-CA17]
Bob Filner [D-CA51]
Walter Jones [R-NC3]
Dennis Kucinich [D-OH10]
Jerry McNerney [D-CA11]
Jerrold Nadler [D-NY8]
Jared Polis [D-CO2]
Nick Rahall [D-WV3]
Steven Rothman [D-NJ9]
Fortney Stark [D-CA13]
Christopher Van Hollen [D-MD8]
Bill Young [R-FL10]


Background | From PETA

Exotic animals used in traveling circuses in the U.S. are often subjected to horrendous physical and psychological abuse. Their movement is severely restricted for extremely long periods of time, and they are often confined to cages that are barely larger than their own bodies. Rigorous, physically abusive training methods involving electric shocks, beatings, and food deprivation are used to force them to perform tricks that are unnatural and meaningless to them. Fortunately, Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia has introduced H.R. 3359, or the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act (TEAPA), a new bill that, if passed, would mean unprecedented improvements for animals used in circuses and other traveling acts.

Recognizing that “traveling circuses are detrimental to animal welfare due to the adverse effects of captivity and transport,” TEAPA seeks to amend the Animal Welfare Act in a manner that promotes the physical and mental health of the animals as well as the safety of both the animals and the public. TEAPA would prohibit exhibitors from forcing animals to perform shortly after being kept in mobile housing, which has been shown to be very detrimental to the physical and mental health of animals.

Ringling Bros. and its parent-company, Feld Entertainment, are misleadingly labeling this important bill as an “attack” on “another American tradition” and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to oppose it—which is why it is so important that you take a moment now to contact your federal representative about H.R. 3359! You can find your representative’s phone number here. If your representative is already a sponsor of this bill (find out here), please take a moment to thank him or her for making the compassionate decision to support TEAPA (be sure to mention that you are a constituent). If not, let your representative know that you are a constituent and ask him or her to sign on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 3359, the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act.

Please follow up your call with a brief e-mail. Feel free to use one of the form letters below, but personalized comments are always preferred. Let your representative know that animal abuse is not a tradition worth supporting! Please share this urgent alert with your friends and family!



Sample letter if your legislator is not yet a co-sponsor.


Subject:

Please Co-Sponsor H.R. 3359, the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act

Email:

I am writing to ask you to co-sponsor H.R. 3359—the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act (TEAPA)—which was introduced by Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia on November 3, 2011. This important bill would prohibit the transport of any animal for more than 12 hours at a time and require that animals used in performances not be confined to a transport enclosure for more than 12 hours during the 15 days preceding a performance. This would help ensure the physical and psychological health and well-being of exotic animals currently languishing in substandard conditions in traveling circuses. For example, elephants used by Ringling Bros., according to the company’s own documents, are chained for 26 consecutive hours on average—and sometimes even up to 100 hours.

As you may be aware, the TEAPA bill is narrowly tailored to address only the worst cases of physical constraint and psychological torment that exotic animals who are forced to travel and perform face. As TEAPA states, “[I]t is not possible to provide exotic and non-domesticated animals with facilities sufficient to maintain the optimum physical and mental health of the animals because of the suffering caused to the animals by the nature of circuses, in which restriction of movement, separation from natural groupings, restriction of food and water, and physical abuse are prevalent.” Furthermore, experts have clearly shown that long periods of travel in insufficient quarters, harsh training methods, and temporary facilities lead to health and safety problems for both the public and the animals.

H.R. 3359 would provide animals with less stifling confinement, a chance for free exercise, and fewer restrictions on their natural behavior. It would have no impact on zoos, rodeos, or permanent facilities, and removing exotic animals and the inherent abuse they face should have no significantly negative impact on traveling circuses. Many circuses—including Cirque du Soleil, a major competitor of circuses with animal acts—are extremely successful without using exotic animals.

I support H.R. 3359 and strongly urge you to sign on as a co-sponsor of this important bill.

Thank you for your attention to this serious issue.

Sincerely,


Sample letter if Jim Moran is your legislator.


Subject:

Thank You for Sponsoring H.R. 3359, the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act

Email:

I am writing to thank you for sponsoring H.R. 3359—the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act. This important bill would help ensure the physical and psychological health and well-being of exotic animals currently languishing in substandard conditions in traveling circuses.

I support H.R. 3359 and thank you for taking a stand for these animals by sponsoring this important bill.

Sincerely,


Sample letter if your legislator is already a co-sponsor.


Subject:

Thank You for Co-Sponsoring H.R. 3359, the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act

Email:

I am writing to thank you for co-sponsoring H.R. 3359—the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act (TEAPA). This important bill would help to ensure the physical and psychological health and well-being of exotic animals currently languishing in substandard conditions in traveling circuses.

Experts have clearly shown that long periods of travel in insufficient quarters, harsh training methods, and temporary facilities lead to health and safety problems for both the public and the animals. Carefully tailored to address only the worst cases of physical constraint and psychological torment, TEAPA would be a significant improvement upon the existing regulations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

As TEAPA states, “[I]t is not possible to provide exotic and non-domesticated animals with facilities sufficient to maintain the optimum physical and mental health of the animals because of the suffering caused to the animals by the nature of circuses, in which restriction of movement, separation from natural groupings, restriction of food and water, and physical abuse are prevalent.” H.R. 3359 would provide animals with less stifling confinement, a chance for free exercise, and fewer restrictions on their natural behavior.

I support H.R. 3359 and thank you for taking a stand for these animals by co-sponsoring this important bill.

Sincerely,