Angelica is a 9-year-old elephant who was born at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ elephant breeding facility. Before she was even 2 years old, she was forcefully taken away from her mother to go on the road with the circus. Beatings, chains, and cramped, filthy boxcars quickly became part of her everyday life. Her ninth birthday is this month, and we want you to ask Ringling to give her the best present she could ever get … her freedom!

The circus is no place for animals. You see, in the wild, female elephants stay with their mothers for their whole lives, and male elephants stay until they’re 15 years old. Their mothers lavish them with love, play with them, and teach them everything they need to know to survive, like how to search for food and how to swim. Angelica and her mother fought so hard to stay together that Angelica suffered many injuries and an enormous amount of stress and sadness.

In nature, elephants roam for miles a day, play in the mud, swim in ponds and watering holes, and spend time with their loved ones. But elephants in the circus are beaten, gouged with bullhooks, and kept in dirty, cramped trailers and boxcars. They’ll spend most of their lives in chains, being dragged around the country and forced to perform tricks and stunts that they would never ever do in the wild. That’s no way for animals to live. Please help Angelica by not going to the circus and by telling everyone you know why they shouldn’t go to circuses with animal acts either.