One 12 Year Old Boy Versus SeaWorld & Circuses

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

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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!