Animal Defenders International
Petition to Los Angeles City Council on Wild Animals in Circuses
Animal Defenders International and the undersigned Angelenos urge Los Angeles City Council Members to restrict the use of wild animals (exotics and non-domestics) in traveling circuses for the following reasons:
Animal Welfare
- Traveling circuses cannot meet the physical, psychological or behavioral needs of wild animals, which suffer severe confinement, social deprivation, long periods of time in transporters, brutal control methods and physical violence.
- Fear, intimidation, violence, emotional deprivation and withholding food, forces animals to perform.
Public Health and Safety
- Keeping large, dangerous, stressed wild animals in close proximity to the public in lightweight, temporary enclosures have proven disastrous. Workers and public have been killed and maimed; lions, tigers and elephants have all escaped.
- Around 12% of Asian and 2% of African elephants in North America have tuberculosis, which is transmissible to humans.
Enforcement
- Enforcement of animal welfare regulations is difficult as circuses are constantly moving; this justifies a restriction.
Economics
- Circuses must change with the times. Human only circuses are thriving. Cirque du Soleil generates an estimated $810 million a year, whereas the Piccadilly Circus wild animal show canceled performances due to poor ticket sales.
- Circus workers perform multiple roles; staff can be retrained, so jobs are not lost. In fact, some surveys show that a decline in animal circuses can be matched by a rise in circuses with human performers, creating jobs.
Immediate action needed to end the use of animals in experiments!
I believe that it is wrong to carry out experiments on animals when there are better, safer and humane alternatives available.
I urge the government to take action immediately to replace the use of animals in research. Animal experiments are unreliable, unethical and
unnecessary.
It is sometimes claimed that animal experiments are essential to medical progress; however the fundamental problem of animal research is that each species responds differently to drugs and other substances - what might poison a human could be eaten by an animal without any ill effects. For example:
- Macaque monkeys are frequently used in toxicology testing, but they have specific genes which are vital for drug metabolism (when a drug works through the body). These genes are not found in humans and this is “partly responsible for differences in drug metabolism between monkeys and humans”.
- The breast cancer drug tamoxifen was designed as an oral contraceptive. It is in rats, but in women it has the opposite effect. It is now used in the treatment of breast cancer, despite causing cancer in rats in some studies.
Species differences make animal use unreliable, and so do the effects of being in a laboratory. Laboratory animals can experience fear and distress, causing changes in their biochemistry which can affect the outcome of experiments. As a result of these factors, drugs that have tested as safe in animals have gone on to injure people.
- TGN1412, an experimental drug, caused volunteers to suffer serious, permanent and life-threatening damage. Prior to human trials, the drug was tested on monkeys at 500 times the human dose; the monkeys did not suffer the side effects experienced by the humans. Several studies regarding TGN1412 have highlighted the crucial differences between the human and monkey immune systems.
- The anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx had unexpected effects on human patients, after laboratory animal tests. It was reported that between 88-140,000 extra heart attacks may have been caused by Vioxx in the five years since its introduction.
There are better ways to carry out research. Advanced technologies involving sophisticated analytical and statistical methods are available and are replacing animals. These methods are quicker, cheaper and more reliable.
Millions of animals needlessly die in the name of research every year. We want safe medicines and medical progress without animal suffering and an end to unreliable, unethical and unnecessary animal experiments.
Basta de sofrimento nos circos brasileiros
Em 2008, Animal Defenders International (ADI) apresentou uma investigação secreta em São Paulo mostrando cenas chocantes de violência nos circos brasileiros. Em Maio de 2010, ADI revelou uma nova exposição no Congresso brasileiro confirmando o que foi encontrado na investigação em 2008. Cinco novos circos foram investigados em abril de 2010, proporcionando a ADI mostrar mais uma vez a realidade miserável que os animais dos circos brasileiros vivem.
A grande maioria do público brasileiro apóia a completa proibição do uso de animais em circos, entretanto, o processo político para atingir a proibição nacional tem sido extremamente lento.
O Projeto de Lei 7291 foi introduzido no Congresso Brasileiro para proibir todos os animais em circos em 2006. Em quatro anos, o Projeto de Lei foi aprovado apenas em três comissões na Câmara dos Deputados, e agora aguarda para entrar na ordem do dia do Plenário para ser votado por todos os deputados, após isso retornará ao Senado para ser apreciado nas comissões pertinentes.
Se você está cansado, como nós estamos de saber da violência contra os animais de circo, por favor, assine a petição e mostre seu apoio a esta lei e peça ao presidente da Câmara dos Deputados para colocar o Projeto na ordem do dia para ser votado, sem mais demoras.
