If the thought of sitting in a car for hours on end with whining kids, a hard-of-hearing grandma, and a cigar-puffing uncle this Thanksgiving weekend makes you feel queasy, imagine making the trip in a poorly ventilated boxcar with no heat. Upon arriving at your destination, instead of being greeted by welcoming family members, a hearty meal, and a warm bed, you're prodded into a march to an arena basement, where you're chained to a concrete floor until being poked and jabbed into the ring and forced to perform meaningless, repetitious, uncomfortable, and even painful tricks in front of a screaming crowd.  

That is a snapshot of the lives of the elephants who are dragged from one circus show to the next—but a new bill before Congress could give elephants, tigers, and other exotic animals used by circuses a reprieve.

Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia has introduced H.R. 3359, the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act, which would, among other measures, prohibit exhibitors from forcing animals to be transported for more than 12 hours without a break and ban forcing animals to perform if they had traveled within the past 15 days, effectively prohibiting circuses from trucking the animals around the country for months at a time.

Internal Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus documents show that elephants used by the circus are chained for up to 100 hours straight (and an average of 26 consecutive hours per trip) while traveling between cities. Not surprisingly, Ringling opposes the bill and has called it an "attack" on "tradition."

Ringling is spending mega-dollars to oppose H.R. 3359, which is why it is so important that you take a moment to click here to contact your representative to ask him or her to support the bill or to thank your legislator if he or she is already a co-sponsor. Let your representative know that animal abuse is not a tradition worth supporting.

Bobby and Moira Roberts, the owners of Britain's Bobby Roberts Super Circus, have been charged in connection with the appalling beating of an elephant named Anne, whom handlers were caught on tape pummeling with a pitchfork and a club. Anne has since been moved to a better situation, but the Robertses will still have to answer for causing Anne to live in misery, chaining her continuously, and allowing her to be beaten.  

It's time for U.S. government officials to be equally active. Elephants used by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus are routinely beaten with bullhooks and traumatized during abusive training sessions.

Click here to ask the U.S. Department of Agriculture to stop ignoring, dismissing, and deferring Ringling's violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor