After watching ABC’s 20/20 last Friday, I am more hopeful about the elephant’s future. I hope that maybe after seeing how elephants are abused and taken away from where they belong (with their families in the wild), and “trained” with torturous methods to be forced to make the most unnatural acts like walking on their front legs, riding a bicycle etc. that America will stop seeing elephants as some object that is here to entertain us. I hope people will stop being amused by circuses. To me, circuses disgust me. It seems so humiliating for the animals and I can’t believe that it is legal to keep wild, social and intelligent animals like the elephants in captivity.

I hope that America saw how much the elephants suffer and how much they deserve a better life. I hope parents will stop bringing their children to circuses and zoos to entertain their children. The only reason elephants are being murdered or sold to circuses and zoos is for the money.

If we STOP supporting these evil circuses and zoos, then we will HELP elephants still in Africa and Asia and PREVENT more elephants going through such torture and misery. Teach your children compassion and respect for other species. Teach them that you don’t agree with the treatment of animals in captivity. Teach your children that animals have their own purpose in life than to live for us.

Children have a natural love and care for animals. There is no child that would enjoy a circus if they were told the truth! Let your child make a positive impact for the animals instead. Maybe your child’s class can have a bake sale or organize a fund raiser where the profit will go to any organization that saves elephants (or other animals). Here are some:

• The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee
• Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conservation
• IFAW
• PAWS