PETITION TARGET: Anatoly I. Antonov, Russian Ambassador to the United States
UPDATE (6/30/2022): We sent our petition, signed by more than 19,000 people, to the Russian Ambassador. Thank you to everyone who spoke up for these innocent animals! Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to obtain any additional information about this tragic exploitation of animals. —Lady Freethinker Staff
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In a shocking tragedy during a Russian circus performance, a lioness dragged a 4-year-old girl from the audience into the ring, sinking her teeth into the small child’s head. The innocent girl is in intensive care, with serious wounds to the face and chest, including a bite spanning from her ear to her chin. The entire incident was caught on video.
This sad event should never have happened. Exotic animals have absolutely no place in the circus, or anywhere else that exploits these wild animals for profit — at the sake of the safety of both humans and animals.
Circus animals endure suffering day in, day out, often pushing them to “snap” and injure trainers or onlookers. Confined in deplorable conditions, they are beaten and psychologically tormented in order to “entertain” human audiences. The lioness was undoubtedly under great distress, and lashed out by lunging at the little girl, who was waving a flag in the air.
More and more circuses are realizing that public sentiment is changing and people are banding together to voice their condemnation. It’s time for Russia to take action to ensure that such a horrific event never happens again.
Sign this petition to urge the Russian ambassador to push for a ban on the use of wild animals for entertainment, and spare animals from misery and humans from risk of tramplings, maulings and death.
