Protest Prompts Pledge: No More Animal Acts at Street Festival
Chamber of Commerce Nabs Box of Vegan Chocolates in Thanks for Compassionate Decision
For Immediate Release:
September 24, 2019
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Following a spirited protest by members of PETA and Long Island Orchestrating for Nature (LION) against animal exhibitor Wild World of Animals at the Bellmore Street Festival on Saturday, the Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores agreed not to host animal acts again at the fair or any of its other events. In thanks, PETA is sending the Chamber of Commerce a box of delicious vegan chocolates.
“The Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores has listened to the many Long Islanders who don’t want to see animals locked in cages and dragged to a street fair,” says John Di Leonardo, executive director of LION and PETA’s senior manager of animals in entertainment and grassroots campaigns. “PETA looks forward to a kinder, animal-free future at the Bellmore Street Festival.”
Last year, a PETA complaint prompted state officials to cite Wild World of Animals exhibitor Grant Kemmerer for five violations of state wildlife laws, including three of New York’s “tiger selfie” law for allowing members of the public to handle big cats during parties at a Long Island residence.
During PETA and LION’s protest, several people left the show’s audience, two of whom joined the protesters; five animal rescue groups canceled their plans to be vendors at the fair; and a vegan food vendor joined the protest (and gave free food to all the protesters). The protest also prompted the street fair to cancel the first of Wild World of Animals’ scheduled performances.
The Bellmore Street Festival has now joined several local fairs that have ended animal acts in recent years, including the Levittown Chamber of Commerce festival and the Northport Fireman’s Fair.
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.
