Animal Welfare Has Standards Of Care

Imagine you are stolen from your family at a young age, forced. Forced to perform routines, and you can not understand why, when you mess up or refuse to perform, you are punished with lacerations or starvation. No one responsible for you cares about your health and will do whatever they can to put as little effort and resources into you. This is the life for many animals forced to participate in circuses. Circus animals, such as elephants, big cats, camels, or bears, live in conditions no human would want to experience. Traveling in small cages, being deprived of experiencing a “natural” life, being forced to perform routines, these are all things circus animals have to go through. A circus is no place for an animal, especially when forced

In the article “PETA urges L.A. to ban all wild animals from circus performances”, Alexia Fernandez highlights the speed with which animal activists go in order to free wild animals from being used in circuses. According to the spokesman for the Ringling Bros, after L.A. “banned circuses from using bullhooks to manage elephants” in 2014, PETA activists demanded that circuses remove wild animals from their performances and Barnum & Bailey Circus begged to differ by arguing that animals in their facilities are taken good care of and are not mistreated (Fernandez, 2016). In conclusion, both sides of the arguments believe that neither is misinformed.

Everyone loves zoos and circuses, that includes the animals and the humans. Why would people want to take that away from society? Animal welfare is the physical and well being of domestic, agricultural, or wildlife display animals under human care and supervision (Issitt, 1). Many critics believe that using animals for entertainment violates the moral principles of that animal. U.S. Conservation groups estimate that there are 5,000 to 10,000 tigers that live in the U.S., far more than in the wild (Brulliard, 1). Animals should be used for entertainment in zoos and circuses because it assists in scientific research, teaches humans about the animals, and it allows them to live in and artificial habitat almost like their own.

Think about how we will look back on our cruel forms of entertainment in the future. Will we be proud of the way we treated these great animals, with abuse as neglect? Today we turn our heads away from reality and what happens behind the scenes of animal entertainment. However, we can’t turn our heads forever. Around the world, there is so much more to animal entertainment than what meets the eye. These animals have been torn away from their beautiful, natural homes and brought to a prison of concrete. In these prisons, they are beaten, starved and tortured all for our money and entertainment. These animals lives should not be taken from them for us. Our money and happiness should not be worth these animal’s lives. Circus, theme park and zoo animals all suffer from aggression towards trainers, mental disabilities and physical injuries. These animals should not have to suffer any longer.

Animal captivity has been an ongoing debate for over 60 years. There should be no question about whether animal captivity is wrong. “Hundreds of thousands of wild animals across the world are snatched from natural habitats, forced into captivity and subjected to abuse, both mentally and physically, in the name of entertainment and profit.” (World Animal Protection 1) Places such as the circus use abusive training methods such as, hooks, chains, whips, electric rods, and blunt instruments. (Born Free USA 1) Animals deserve to live freely in the wild. Their freedom is taken away the moment they are put in a cage. When animals are brought into

That was in 1998, and at the time it seemed like a turning point in the decades-long fight over circus elephants. For years, animal rights organizations had been releasing horrific undercover videos showing Ringling trainers abusing elephants, but USDA investigations never produced evidence that officials deemed strong enough to warrant action. Now there was a dead body—and a recent precedent. The agency had just fined the King Royal Circus, a small family operation, $200,000 for allowing an elephant to die in an overheated trailer of an untreated salmonella infection.

Imagine being drugged, taken to an unknown place, and being tortured to do actions foreign to your natural behaviour, but knowing it would be much worse if you disobey. That is the life of animals used for entertainment every day. Animals have been used as a means for entertainment for centuries now, not treated with the respect they deserve. The utilization of animals for entertainment may help attract people to learning more about a certain animal, however, manipulating animals for entertainment violates the animal’s rights and freedoms, and, more often than not, animals utilized for entertainment live in detrimental environments, despite people’s endeavors to end it.

Imagine being in a circus ring watching tigers and lions leaping through blazing rings of fire, elephants standing on their heads, and monkeys riding red bicycles for a colossal crowd of screaming, cheering fans. The elephant’s exhausted, worn body is swamped with intricately designed drapes. The sweet, endearing smell of fresh cotton candy and popcorn fills the air with excitement. When the show has reached the grand finale and has come to an end, a trainer arrives with a bull hook and thrusts it into the elephant’s side. Bloody wounds are all over its body from the mistreatment of the circus industry. This is the life that circus animals live each and every day. The animals are mistreated on a routine basis and are crammed into small boxcars for more than three-fourths of their life, serving the public for a moment of entertainment each night. The life of a circus animal is one of pure, unending misery. The use of animals in circus shows is inhumane because they are a threat to public health, and they are mistreated when outside of the public eye.

Although the issues regarding circus cruelty have gained much-needed attention in recent years, circus animals still suffer from lives of confinement, social deprivation and violent methods of training.

Premise 4: Poor caretaking puts the health of both animals and the surrounding people in danger. Animals in Circus Performances, Cute or Cruel? Circuses are filled with fun, wild acts including amazing acrobats, comedic clowns, and exotic animals. But unlike human entertainers, animals do not choose the circus life; they are unluckily forced into it.

Animals that are confined to zoos are prisoners. They are ripped of their families, and robbed of their happiness and freedom. Zoos cannot provide the amount of space animals have in the wild. However, Animals should never be held in captivity unless they are candidates for breeding programs or rehabilitation. It is inhumane for us to keep large mammals like elephants, tigers or gorillas in zoos or theme parks. These are highly intelligent animals with complex social constructs that scientists have studied for decades and still have yet to fully understand. Captive wild animals should not be used for entertainment. Unfortunately, using animals in a theatrical manner is what brings in the crowds and most importantly, the profits. While some theme parks may try to incorporate education into the act in order to justify running these shows, using these majestic animals for laughs and gasps is disrespectful and abusive. Children should learn to appreciate how these animals behave in the wild as opposed to how they can do tricks for rewards.

There are many types of animals used for entertainment such as circuses, dog fighting, zoos, and rodeos. All of these types of entertainment are not natural for these animals which is a form of abuse. Often times they are wild animals that don’t belong in cages and are not able to do things that are in their instinct to do. This is especially true about zoos and circuses. Animals are not able to roam free and instead kept in small cages. Even in optimal settings experts say that it is difficult to provide for the needs of wild animals.(Lemonick) Children should learn to respect animals and not see them as entertainment. People should only support animal free circuses and raise awareness how animals are abused for entertainment.

These animals have minimal water, food, and care. Furthermore, cleaning becomes a low priority. These animals live in cramped and filthy cages. They eat, drink, sleep, and even urinate in the same place. When animals do not perform well during a training sessions or travel seasons, they are often forced to go without food and water for a long period of time. Trainers do this in order to keep the animals afraid and submissive. The United States Animal Welfare (AWA) has cited circuses for violating the minimal standards of care. Circus animals are not given a good amount of food and water throughout the day so they are left thirsty and hungry. Water supply is not a priority to the animals. Lack of care is very hard for animals. Especially the

The life of a circus animal is hard and demanding. It is not an acceptable way of life for an animal. Circuses would quickly lose their appeal if the public were more aware of their mistreatments of these animals. Many circuses do not have much money and as a result the animals suffer from inadequate care. These animals spend most of their time in small cages used for transportation. The Animal Welfare Act provides cage requirements, but many circuses fail to follow this law. Even the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus was cited for 65 violations over a two-year period according to Florence Lambert. When traveling, animals spend hours, even days between sites in confinement..

Animals have been a main focus in circus performances around the world for many centuries; however, in recent history, there have been far more regulations put on the use of these creatures, stemming mainly from how they are treated by both their trainers and the circus as a whole. Whether it be on the federal or local and state-level, there has been a definite increase in the questionable legality of America’s circus industry due to the neglect and abuse of the participating animals, courts’ decisions highlighting the true importance of the issue. These rulings make one ask the question: What types of regulations could be put in place in all circuses to ensure that the animals involved are not abused in the process? In the end, many