Simpson’s creator Sam Simon, PETA and the Atlanta Humane Society fought and won a battle to free 17 bears confined for years in concrete pits at a Georgia tourist attraction called the Black Forest Bear Park. The bears have been transferred to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado and are now running freely on grass. Two of the bears were pregnant at the time of the liberation, and, for the first time in their lives, they will be able to raise their cubs. In the pits, their cubs were kidnapped shortly after birth.

Being held captive in a pit is like living in a horror movie. The activists who freed these bears and the rescuers who are providing them with a sanctuary are heroes. Please visit The Wild Animal Sanctuary to find out ways you can support their work and help captive animals.

Los Angeles became the first city in the United States to ban bullhooks, tools used by elephant trainers in traveling circuses to “keep elephants under control.” According to the L.A. Times, “voting unanimously, the City Council asked the city attorney’s office to prepare an ordinance outlawing the use of the bullhook. Baseball bats, ax handles, pitchforks and other implements used on the pachyderms would also be banned.” Some activists are angry that the Council” agreed to give circuses three years to either change how they handle elephants or remove them from shows altogether.” Because elephants cannot be controlled without bullhooks, a ban on their use is really a ban on the use of elephants. According to One Green Planet, circuses that use elephants have already been banned in Bolivia, Peru, Slovenia, Cyprus, Greece, Paraguay, Columbia, the Netherlands. A ban in the U.K. goes into effect in 2015.

Circus Elephant Trainer with bullhook

Bullhooks are weapons used by “trainers” to scare captive elephants into submission. Their use is one of many reasons why elephants and other wild animals should not be used in circuses. If you support a ban on circus animals, then please see this article published by One Green Planet on ways you can help.