Hi John,
This week, audiences will return to Oz as Wicked comes back to the big screen. At its core, the story is about who is allowed a voice and who is denied one.
In Oz, nonhuman animals once spoke, taught, and lived freely beside humans until fear redefined freedom as danger. Wicked is fiction. But for elephants, chimpanzees, and other nonhuman animals living in captivity, it reflects a reality that’s all too familiar.
Across the world, intelligent, social nonhuman beings spend their lives behind concrete walls and steel bars. They are denied companionship, choice, and the ability to live on their own terms. They cannot speak for themselves in court and other halls of power, which is why they need us to raise our voices for them.
Our work to challenge animals’ unjust legal status as “things,” build precedent, and fight for their rights depends on support from people who know animals' lives matter to them and should matter to us.
Thank you for all you do to stand with and speak out for animals whose freedom has been taken away. If you can, please make a donation today or any time through Giving Tuesday (Dec. 2nd) so we can continue to fight to get it back.
