UniverSoul Circus to Draw Opening-Night Protest
PETA Will Urge Passersby to Avoid Cruel and Dangerous Show at All Costs
For Immediate Release:
November 13, 2019
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Armed with signs featuring TLC’s Chilli stating, “Sad. Lonely. Beaten. UniverSoul Circus: End Animal Acts,” a group of PETA supporters will descend on UniverSoul Circus’ opening-night performance in Philadelphia.
When: Thursday, November 14, 6 p.m.
Where: Fairmount Park, at the intersection of Avenue of the Republic and South Concourse Drive, Philadelphia
“Today’s public respects wildlife and has no interest in seeing miserable, abused animals perform stupid tricks,” says PETA Foundation Deputy Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Rachel Mathews. “PETA’s protesters are pushing UniverSoul to embrace an animal-free future before it follows Ringling Bros. out of business.”
Ringling Bros.—once the largest U.S. circus—shut down in 2017, citing the public’s changing attitude toward the use of animals in entertainment, as demonstrated by declining ticket sales. In Pennsylvania, the Syria Shriners in Pittsburgh have announced an end to their animal circus and the Whitemarsh Township Board of Supervisors in a Philadelphia suburb recently unanimously passed an ordinance banning the use of wild and exotic animals in traveling shows. A growing number of other cities and states across the country have banned traveling wild-animal acts.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
