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    parangaricutirimicuaroEllie Shechet
    3/05/15 9:56am
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      Aikageparangaricutirimicuaro
      3/05/15 10:16am

      Not that I don't believe you, but sources?

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      ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ : Riot GRRR is RUNNING WILDparangaricutirimicuaro
      3/05/15 10:27am

      Whoever wrote this, I kind of want to punch them in the face.

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    Team Cat HQEllie Shechet
    3/05/15 9:55am

    "There's been somewhat of a mood shift among our consumers," said Alana Feld, the company's executive vice president. "A lot of people aren't comfortable with us touring with torturing our elephants."

    Fixed it.

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      angeldarklyTeam Cat HQ
      3/05/15 11:41am

      TOTALLY read it that way the first time, completely naturally. :(

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      anyah8sbunniesTeam Cat HQ
      3/05/15 2:04pm

      I TOTALLY read it like that originally. I actually copied the sentence and was about to go on a tirade about animal torture in circuses.

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    NotOkayEllie Shechet
    3/05/15 10:00am

    Thank you.

    GIF
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      Ken Yadiggit, AdiosNotOkay
      3/05/15 10:09am

      nooooo I did not feel like crying this early in the morning I haven't finished my coffee yettt

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      Pleasure of Ruins: Bitch of the MomentNotOkay
      3/05/15 10:54am

      That scene scarred me for life. And made me cry at the circus.

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    LibrarySchoolDropoutEllie Shechet
    3/05/15 10:03am

    My mom wouldn't take me to the circus in the 8os because the elephants made her too sad. She was boycotting B&B way before it was cool.

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      I'mSorryI'mNotsorryLibrarySchoolDropout
      3/05/15 10:15am

      I refuse to go to Sea World because they keep sea pandas (orcas) in fish tanks and it would make me sad to see them contained in such a small area. I will be a great mom, like your mother and refuse to take my kids to circuses who have animals and amusement parks with orcas.

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      SoygibivilyI'mSorryI'mNotsorry
      3/05/15 10:49am

      Good! Teach your kids about empathy for all other living things, human and nonhuman, and show them how live in a way that aligns with their values. I hear so many people say things like, "I kind of feel bad for the whales, but Sea World is just so awesome." It's like nobody ever taught them how to make the leap from having a set of beliefs to making choices based on those beliefs. If everybody stopped giving Sea World money, they'd be backed into a corner like Barnum and Bailey and they'd finally have to stop using whales as entertainment.

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    kitteneyeEllie Shechet
    3/05/15 10:01am

    "All of the resources used to fight these things can be put towards the elephants," Feld said during an interview at the Center for Elephant Conservation. "We're not reacting to our critics; we're creating the greatest resource for the preservation of the Asian elephant."

    Torturing animals so that they can parade in front of humans in an orderly fashion a few times a day does not have anything to do with "preservation." If you were educating people about how incredible the elephant is, how important it is to protect them from poachers, saving elephants who have been attacked and nursing them back to health until they can be released back into the wild, sure. That's preservation. A circus is not.

    And I highly doubt that the money they are saving by phasing out the elephants is going to be put towards wildlife preservation efforts.

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      BecauseoftheImplicationkitteneye
      3/05/15 11:26am

      Was Feld referring to the circus or the Center for Elephant Conservation when he said that? My impression was that he was saying that, by retiring the elephants there and redirecting the resources used to fight ordinances to the Center, they are creating a resource for preservation. I could have misread though. And even if that is what he's saying, there are several people in this comments section pointing out that the Center itself is not great.

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      kitteneyeBecauseoftheImplication
      3/05/15 12:34pm

      When they retire elephants there, it's still only after a harsh, inhumane life of mistreatment. That's not doing anything.

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    randall pinkEllie Shechet
    3/05/15 9:58am

    It's a start. Frivolous instrumentalization of nonhumans has to go, whether it's entertainment like circuses or aquariums like Seaworld.

    Hopefully it'll leak into fashion too. Fuck the fur industry.

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      serendous sEllie Shechet
      3/05/15 10:06am

      So presumably, they will also soon be phasing out big cat acts as well. And hopefully flying horse acts because you know those things are endangered (there's a Ringling Bros. poster at my job featuring a Pegasus straight out of She-Ra). I know they've done away with their 'unicorn' from back in the day.

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        accordingtoserendous s
        3/05/15 1:41pm

        is that the act where they basically drop a horse off a high dive?

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        serendous saccordingto
        3/05/15 2:56pm

        I don't think so. Then again it could be. That would certainly make more sense than the woman riding a winged horse that's on the poster. I've heard about those diving acts - insane

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      RosehipsEllie Shechet
      3/05/15 3:17pm

      Alright everybody, Circus Performer here. I have been performing in various shows/circuses/theaters for about 8 years now, and I have a few points to make. Are there people in the circus business who mistreat their animals? Absolutely. Do I think that exotic animals should be allowed to live in sanctuaries and not made to perform? Yep. Although this legislation will put many of my close friends out of business, we need to focus more on care and preservation, not on performance. THAT BEING SAID. For people to say "Fuck the circus" is an insult to me and all of my friends and partners who perform sans animals for a living. The business is struggling so much, and wonderful jugglers, acrobats, and aerialists are unable to do what they love. So let me make a request. Absolutely do not attend shows that feature exotics if it makes you angry or sad (as it makes me), but instead patronize wonderful shows such as Circus Flora, Big Apple Circus, or any of the incredible theaters and touring shows around the country such as SF Supper Club, Queen of the Night, Les 7 Doigts De la Main. Humans are the future of circus performance, indeed the future of theater in some cases. So, to sum it up, no exotics, yay sexy, awesome, exciting, strong humans.

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        KristenfromMAEllie Shechet
        3/05/15 11:28am

        If they really have good intentions, they'd do the following:

        1. End the use of elephants NOW.

        2. Send the elephants in their custody to the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, TN.

        3. Set up a trust or donate directly to the Elephant Sanctuary for the continual care of the girls and other elephants.

        I won't hold my breath.

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          SuzanneSugarbakersbouffantEllie Shechet
          3/05/15 11:16am

          I viciously judge people who see nothing wrong with going to the circus. There, I said it. I've even gotten into a heated debate with my own mother about how the elephants are treated. She now donates to an elephant sanctuary, I won that argument.

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