Shriners International claims to be dedicated to compassion and service to others, yet its chapters continue to host notoriously cruel animal circuses. Video footage recorded at Shrine circuses has shown elephants jabbed with a sharp bullhook, tigers whipped in the face, bison pulled by rings in their noses, and other animals suffering in despair.
An animal behavior expert reported that although circus trainers, ringmasters, and other staff members have claimed that the animals at Shrine circuses perform tricks as a result of rewards and trust, "what actually occurs is environmental and physiological neglect, psychological abuse, and coercing the animals to behave through dominance and fear-based techniques."
Keeping far-ranging tigers inside cramped cages, forcing sensitive elephants to perform meaningless tricks under the threat of punishment, and dressing up animals in demeaning costumes are forms of speciesism—a human-supremacist worldview—and these practices must end.
Tell Shriners International to require that all its chapters' fundraisers be animal-free.
To whom it may concern:
I was disappointed to learn that Shriners International has not yet directed its chapters to end the use of animal acts for fundraisers. At a time when Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has returned to the circus tent with only willing, human performers and several Shrine temples are nixing animal circuses, this inaction is out of step with the shifting tide of public opinion.
Elephants, tigers, and other wild animals forced to perform in circuses live under the constant threat of being hit with whips, electric prods, or bullhooks—sharp, steel-tipped weapons resembling a fireplace poker. Trainers exploit the animals' natural desire to avoid pain in order to make them do headstands, spin on pedestals, and jump through rings of fire.
Shriners International—an organization that claims to be devoted to doing good—should disassociate itself from the egregious cruelty inherent in using animals for entertainment, which would surely attract a new generation of Shriners. Please pass a bylaw banning the use of animals in circuses across all Shrine temples.
[Your comment here]
Thank you for your consideration.
[Your name here]
