Animal Welfare

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We Care About Animal Welfare

Members of the Circus Fans Association of America (CFA) come from many walks of life—we are active and retired circus performers, educators, clergy, men and women of business and industry, first responders, medical personnel, entertainers, animal caregivers, public servants, and representatives of many other areas of society. We are united in our love and advocacy for the circus in all its forms, including those companies who feature domestic and exotic animals. As we are unified in our love of the circus, we are also united in our respect and love for the animals in the circus, and those who care for them.

Based on our membership’s extensive experience with circus, the CFA recognizes that the circus industry is on the front lines of endangered species conservation. Circuses promote education about endangered species, advance knowledge and expertise of husbandry techniques, and serve as a genetic insurance policy against extinction through some of the most successful breeding programs in the world.

We therefore support the humane and responsible care and exhibition of circus animals and those showcased in other mainstream forms of entertainment; we support and seek to preserve the human-animal bond that is often expressed through respectful contact with animals and the experience of seeing them in person; and, supporting the public’s right to choose its entertainment options. We denounce those extremists who seek to impose their agenda on the public, destroy human contact with animals, and who foster misinformation about the circus and its people.

As an American tradition older that baseball, the circus is a valuable art form accessible to all walks of life. We wish for present and future generations to experience animals in person and to witness the amazing bond humans and animals share as a way of inspiring them to have a vested interest in conservation, as in its most elemental form the circus is truly a celebration of life.