The New York City Council is considering a historic bill, Intro #1233, that would prohibit wild animal performances from occurring in New York City, including in circuses, fairs, petting zoos, carnivals, parades, races and rides.
We need your help to enact this important bill into law. Click here to read the legislation. 
Animals such as elephants, tigers, lions bears, alligators, monkeys and apes shouldn’t have to suffer to entertain us in the year 2016. Society knows better—we know that wild animals used in circuses and other performances are often trained by having their spirits broken, forced to perform ridiculous, degrading stunts while otherwise caged and chained in trains and trailers, enduring arduous travel each year in small cages.
Captive animals used for entertainment are denied their natural behaviors such as having extended social groups and living and moving freely in large outdoor areas. When exploited for commercial entertainment purposes, wild animals lead unnatural lives of misery, deprivation and confinement. The New York City Council now has the opportunity to send a strong message around the world by passing this legislation into law to protect wild animals from being used as “entertainment” within the great city of New York.
Take Action
1.Please call your New York City Council Members today and ask them to sign on in support of Intro 1233 (Sponsored by Council Member Rosie Mendez). Ask them to swiftly pass the legislation into law. Click here to find your NYC Council Member’s contact info. Ask your friends and family who reside in NYC to do the same. Read our official memo of support below for examples of points you can make in your own comment.
2. The Committee on Health is holding a public hearing on Intro 1233 on Oct. 20 at 10 a.m. at City Hall. Please attend this hearing and sign up to speak in favor of passing Intro 1233 into law. Every voice counts tremendously at these hearings!The hearing will take place inside the City Hall chambers, located at 260 Broadway, between Park Place and Murray St. Please arrive at City Hall by 9 a.m. to allow time to pass through security and sign up to speak.
3.Go to our website to read Friends of Animals’ official Memo of Support for Intro 1233 to the New York City Council and spread the word.
Dear NYC Council Member,
Friends of Animals was founded in 1957 in New York City, and we still maintain an office at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. We’re an international animal advocacy group with hundreds of thousands of members, and we urge passage of Intro 1233, to prohibit the display and exhibition of wild and exotic animals in New York City.
Full text and language of Intro 1233 available here
Wild animals used in circuses and displays such as fairs, petting zoos, carnivals, parades, races, rides or expositions lead unnatural lives of misery, deprivation and confinement when they’re held for commercial purposes. Clearly, it’s in the interests of wild animals to live in nature with their habitats protected, but if they’re bred, bought or sold to exist in an animal exploitation industry, humans are to blame, and humane treatment of these animals is the business of Friends of Animals. Friends of Animals has an obligation to offer its opinion on whether this is a moral issue, and we resolve that indeed it is.
If wild animals are removed from nature, they don’t belong privatized in homes, or in animal entertainment businesses. They should reside in legitimate sanctuaries where they’re neither exploited for profit, nor confined to a life performing stunts. Decent, private sanctuaries provide socialization, and degrees of enjoyable freedom not available to wild cats, primates and other animals trapped in traveling circuses, and other exhibits.
Animals such as elephants, tigers, lions, bears, alligators, monkeys and apes shouldn’t suffer to entertain us in the year 2016. The New York City Council should pass Intro 1233 to assure that New York City has a humane standard regarding the treatment of wild animals held for commercial purposes.
Wild animals used in circuses and other performances are often trained by having their spirits broken, forced to perform ridiculous, degrading stunts while otherwise caged and chained in trains and trailers, enduring arduous travel each year in small cages. Captive animals used for entertainment are denied their natural behaviors such as having extended social groups and living and moving freely in large outdoor areas.
Due to immense public pressure from Friends of Animals and the general public, Ringling Bros. Circus decided to end the use of elephants in their shows, acknowledging that public attitudes about using elephants for entertainment had changed. Other performing wild animals used by Ringling Brothers or other commercial venues should also get a reprieve, for similar reasons. Many of these performances are advertised as “family entertainment,” yet New York City is a progressive, changing city. Respecting and protecting wildlife from harm and abuse is part of a progressive philosophy.
Friends of Animals operates a wildlife sanctuary named Primarily Primates in San Antonio, Texas. Over 350 monkeys, chimpanzees, big cats, and other primates are cared for there — some cast-offs from the “entertainment” industry – once used in circuses, films, or TV ads — discarded when they’re no longer easily manipulated. We have first-hand knowledge of the psychological and emotional trauma that results from forcing chimpanzees, monkeys and other animals to become “performers.”
Please respect the treatment of wild animals by supporting Intro 1233 and swiftly passing it into law.