HORSES / Lists of Organizations Helping Animals

Organizations Fighting Animal Cruelty in Entertainment

by Jennie Richards · Published March 5, 2020 · Updated March 12, 2020

Organizations Fighting Animal Cruelty in Entertainment

The following nonprofit organizations work tirelessly to protect and advocate for animals abused in the entertainment industry, including in: Rodeos, circus’s, zoos, horse racing, trophy hunting, marine mammal entertainment, animals used in the film/television industry, and in sport hunting.

Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) – The Animal Legal Defense Fund is anAmerican non-profit law organization that aims to protect the rights and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. Founded in 1979, the ALDF has been fighting to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. ALDF has blazed the trail for stronger enforcement of anti-cruelty laws and more humane treatment of animals in every corner of American life. Today, ALDF’s groundbreaking efforts to push the U.S. legal system to end the suffering of abused animals are supported by thousands of dedicated attorneys and more than 100,000 members and supporters.

Compassion Works International – Compassion Works International (CWI) works to create a free and fair world for all beings. CWI conducts undercover investigations in the entertainment industry, and investigates and advocates against institutional animal cruelty. Their campaigns address the circus, the rodeo, marine mammal confinement, zoos, horse racing, trophy hunting, factory farming, and other industries that put money and profit ahead of lives.

Action for Animals (Oakland, CA) – Action For Animals works to educate, inform, campaign against and legislate against rodeo cruelty. Activist Eric Mills has spent many years exposing the dark side of the rodeo. Eric has succeeded in getting three bills passed in California that restrict and ban certain rodeo practices.

Freedom For Animals – Freedom For Animals began as Captive Animals’ Protection Society (CAPS) in 1957 and is one of the UK’s longest-running charities working to protect animals. Through a combination of undercover investigations, research, campaigns, grassroots activism, political lobbying and education, their work for animals focuses predominantly on issues affecting those individuals held captive in circuses, zoos and aquariums, as well as those used in the television and film industry, live animal displays and the exotic pet trade. Freedom For Animals takes action to end the captivity of animals, especially those used for entertaining the public in zoos, circuses and the media industry.

Horse Racing Kills – Horse Racing Kills was established for the protection of racehorses and to advocate for racehorses. Based in Australia, their focus includes investigations, research, public awareness campaigns, and political lobbying. The horse racing industry has operated for over 150 years without any consideration given to the animals it uses, abuses and exploits. As a result, The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses was formed in 2008 to address the serious animal welfare concerns that are rife throughout the racing industry. By using public opinion and concern, CPR is able to address these serious animal welfare concerns and bring about positive changes for the animals and the industry.

Horse Racing Wrongs – Horseracing Wrongs is a 501(c)(3) non-profit committed to eradicating horseracing in the United States. “We are in fact the only organization in the country that is clearly and consistently working toward that end. Facts, as the great John Adams once declared, are stubborn things. And facts are what we present here. We firmly believe that if those coming to this site do so with an open mind, a fresh lens, they will see horseracing not for how it has been sold – as sport, “The Sport of Kings” – but rather as the cruel and deadly gambling industry that it is.”

How to Report Zoo or Circus Animal Abuse – Here is a step-by-step process to report any abuse or cruelty to animals you have witnessed in the circus or in a zoo. Circus and zoo employees can abuse animals by striking them but also by denying them food or water over a long period of time. If you think a circus or zoo has abused an animal, then you should document the abuse or injuries as much as you can, and complete a report. Then find the appropriate government agency and report that you suspect abuse, through this page.

In Defense of Animals – In Defense of Animals (IDA) has become an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 valued supporters and a 30-year history of protecting animals, people and the environment. They accomplish their mission through education, campaigns, sanctuaries, and hands-on animal rescuers. Their headquarters is in San Rafael, California. They have specific campaigns against the rodeo and animals abused in entertainment.

Last Chance for Animals (LCA) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating animal exploitation through education, investigations, legislation, and media attention. They believe that animals are highly sentient creatures who exist for their own reasons. LCA therefore opposes the use of animals in food and clothing production, scientific experimentation, and entertainment and promotes a cruelty-free lifestyle and the ascription of rights to non-human beings.

Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) – PAWS mission is dedicated to the protection of performing animals, to providing sanctuary to abused, abandoned and retired captive wildlife, to enforcing the best standards of care for all captive wildlife, to the preservation of wild species and their habitat, and to promoting public education about captive wildlife issues.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world, with more than 3 million members. PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in the clothing trade, in laboratories, and in the entertainment industry. They work through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.

SHARK – Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) is a non-profit organization with supporters around the US and beyond, that conducts investigations and campaigns against animal abuse. SHARK receives no government funding and completely relies on donations and grants to work on issues ranging in scope from local to worldwide. With a small core of volunteers, and a staff of five (two are part-time), SHARK battles tirelessly against rodeos, bullfighting, pigeon shoots, turkey shoots, canned hunts (and all hunting), circuses, zoos, and marine parks… any issue that involves violation of the innate rights of living creatures. SHARK also conducts animal rescues and education projects.

In addition to these organizations that focus on animal abuse in entertainment, there are many more nonprofit animal rights organizations that fight against animal cruelty across many other industries as well.