Members of the Student Animal Alliance are encouraging students to “Be an Elefriend” the week after Spring Break.
Christina Bicknell, a peta2 campus representative for UF, said the campaign was created after the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to the Stephen C. O’Connell Center last month. Bicknell said Florida is one of the few states where universities still allow the circus to come to campus.
“It is unfortunate that a place for higher learning would support an event that has no educational purpose and promotes animal cruelty,” she said.
Activists will hand out literature on campus about animal cruelty and let students sign a petition to block the circus from UF in the future.
Anna Sandoval, a 19-year-old UF exercise physiology sophomore, said she supports the campaign.
“This event opens up a very different perspective to something I used to love as a child,” she said.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 2/27/2014 under the headline "Anti-cruelty campaign responds to circus acts"]
