In their natural habitats, tigers don’t spend time in Plexiglas boxes, and elephants don’t perform confusing and sometimes painful tricks—but in circuses like UniverSoul, they do these things because they have no choice.

UniverSoul Circus works with well-known animal abusers, including Hugo Liebel—who has been racking up Animal Welfare Act violations for his treatment of the suffering elephant Nosey for 20 years—and Carson & Barnes Circus, whose trainers were caught on video using blowtorches and electric prods on elephants.

It also works with a big-cat exhibitor who was cited twice within four months for keeping big cats in cages so small that they could barely take a few steps in any direction. A handler even admitted that the animals were kept caged for 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the entire four to seven weeks that they were on the road with UniverSoul—and sometimes even longer.

Circuses like UniverSoul continue to teach kids that cruelty to other living beings like elephants and big cats is OK—but it’s NOT! It’s time that we taught kids compassion and to respect all life by choosing animal-friendly activities instead of visiting circuses that use animals.