Circuses, zoos and aquarium parks like SeaWorld
are destinations most kids can’t wait to visit.
But Dominic Geragi isn’t just any kid.
An animal activist since the age of seven and co-president
of the non-profit Animal Hero Kids, Dominic firmly stands against
the use and abuse of animals for entertainment
and is really making waves in his community.
Pun intended.
Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget.
Today I’m excited to introduce you to Dominic Geragi.
At the age of eight, Dominic had bullhooks banned in Margate, Florida,
which I’ll let him talk about more.
Now, with five years of animal activism under his belt and at the ripe old age age of twelve,
Dominic continues to fight for captive animals in the entertainment industry.
Dominic shared what inspired him to go vegan and become active.
First I watched the documentary The Cove
and that got me to protesting the Miami Seaquarium,
which then caused me to become vegetarian. And we started learning about more stuff.
Then like a month after I became vegan.
I protest at Miami Seaquarium. Five years now, we've been protesting there.
We've had many different events happen there. We've had a lot of cars turn around
where the cars don't go in.
Dominic hit the ground running and spoke out against the cruel use of bullhooks,
resulting in their banning.
When I was eight years old I banned bullhooks and electric prods from being used
in the city of Margate in Florida.
I'm eight years old, I live in Boca Raton.
I do not like Cole Brothers, or any other circus that uses animals.
They use electrical rods, they electrocute the animals.
They take bullhooks and beat the elephants.
Little baby elephants are taken from their mothers
to be beaten.
Please do what you can to help these animals.
Kids have a voice. Thank you very much.
Bullhooks are used like batons but they have a hook at the top of them
and they beat the elephants with them.
And there's actually videos of the trainers using the bullhook
to bring the elephants somewhere where they had damage on their feet
and other parts of their body.
With other kids his age flocking to aquariums, zoos and circuses,
I asked Dominic why he protests against them.
Sea World and Miami Seaquarium where they just take--
and they put them into this cove and they take half of them
and put them into Sea World and the Seaquarium,
and they just put them into these tiny tanks.
Some of them are illegal, like Lolita's.
Lolita's is illegal, it's way too small for her.
And circuses are animals being taken, tortured, and put into these places.
And it's just really depressing there for them.
Given this sad reality, Dominic shared that there are alternatives
if kids and their families want to interact with animals.
Sanctuaries is a perfect place to see animals, and take care of them.
Where you can see them, and if you want to volunteer
you can help them. And basically help them to help their health.
Dominic advocates other kids to get active in their communities and schools.
He shares his thoughts on the power of kid activism and how to get involved.
I mean, people listen to kids more than they do to adults nowadays.
They think, when they see an adult sitting down, holding a sign:
"Oh, that person is crazy.", or something.
But when they see a kid talking up there, they think: "Wow, this is serious."
and they actually get more of an impact.
Spread awareness is probably the easiest part. You can make your own leaflets
and print them out and give them to people in your neighborhood.
Or if it's easier just go to your school and talk about it,
and have kids spread awareness, make presentations. That's what I did.
So more people know about what is going on
with circuses and Miami Seaquarium and Sea World
and all these bad places. And on factory farms and all of those.
Given that most kids his age aren’t out there
fighting for the rights of animals, I asked Dominic
what motivated him to keep going.
Seeing that animals have more rights nowadays,
you see more sanctuaries and all these other places.
That people actually care about animals makes me want to help even more
and try to get it completely-- like no circuses and no Miami Seaquarium.
I’ll leave you with some excerpts from Dominic’s Animal Hero Kids State of the Union Address.
I Dominic, Animal Hero Kid president, pledge to speak out for all animals in need.
All of our voices together will stop animal abuse.
We need to be the voices for the voiceless.
We, the Animal Hero Kids, promise to stop animal abuse
by not going to circuses that use animals for entertainment.
Wild animals belong in the wild.
We, the Animal Hero Kids, across the nation
will speak up for the most abused animals of all:
factory farmed animals, like cows, chickens and pigs.
If you want to find out more about Dominic and his activist network,
check out the links in the video description below.
Stay tuned to the channel to hear from more Animal Hero Kids.
If you liked this video, do give it a thumbs up and share it around
to help show what kids can accomplish.
If you’re new here, I’d love to have you as a subscriber.
I put out fresh content covering all aspects of veganism
every Monday, Wednesday and some Fridays.
To help support Bite Size Vegan’s educational efforts, please see the support links below
or click on the Nugget Army icon or the link in the sidebar.
Now go live vegan, end captivity, and I’ll see you soon!
When I say rip his head off, rip his f--ing head off...
It's very important that you do it.
When he starts squirming too f--ing much, both f--ing hands -- BOOM -- right under that chin!
Sink that hook into 'em.
When you hear that screaming, then you know you got their attention!