On April 13, 1796, Barnum and Bailey Circus purchased a two-year old female, Asian elephant for one thousand dollars. This is the first of many elephants that were purchased for the two largest circuses in America, Barnum and Bailey and Ringling Bros Circus. While today there are only around sixty nine elephants that are still involved in the circus act, there was at one time approximately three hundred and five. The U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and does not distinguish between zoos and circuses. This implies that the main goals of the zoos and circuses is the same, to use animals commercially and public exhibition. Former Ringling Bros. employees Archele Hundley, Margaret Tom, and Robert Tom Jr. had …show more content…
Elephants can walk up to forty miles in the wild, but hardly get enough exercise to keep them alive in circuses and zoos. They are forced to sleep and walk on concrete floors and are often on train cars most of their life. This can cause arthritis, foot abscesses, and other foot and joint dangers.
The average lifespan of a wild elephant is anywhere from sixty to seventy years old. Because of chronic health problems such as tuberculosis, arthritis, and foot abscesses, captive elephants are lucky if they live forty years. The oldest captive elephant, Peaches, died at the age of fifty-five in 2005 at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Furthermore, attempting the breed captive elephants has been highly unsuccessful. Of the five elephants born in 2003, three of them died within the first twelve months.
Aside from humans, elephants have no natural enemies. When left alone, elephants are peaceful creatures and not aggressive. Naturally, elephants do not stand on their hind legs or on their heads or perform tricks you see at the circus. In order to make an animal perform an act they do not understand, you must literally beat them into submission. This practices are demeaning, unnatural and cause fear in the elephants. They are routinely beaten, shocked, abused, and chained for days at a
The official title of the world’s largest land dwelling animal belongs to the elephant, more specifically, the African elephant. Elephants also are some of the most deadly animals, which therefore increase the danger of human and elephant interactions. The more human interactions occur, the more deaths result, whether it is the elephant or the human who dies. These animals, surprisingly, are socially apt; their trunk is used for more than just eating and drinking- it is used for socializing. They are complex animals who live in large familial herds-females stay with their family throughout their entire lives while males only stay for approximately fifteen years (Elephant Protection, 1). Elephants possess a great memory and only forget what they learn occasionally and rarely, giving way to the “an elephant never forgets” saying (Maloiy, 178c). Despite how many people use the beloved saying, elephants may not be around much longer due to the shortened life span and increased mortality rates. Due to their incisor teeth, tusks, being extremely expensive and profitable, they are being murdered for the wealth they carry. This, coupled with the life span shortening because of malicious treatments and brutal practices reduces the life span of the African elephant from 56 to 16 years and the Asian elephant from 42 to 19 years (Elephant Protection, 1). According to what the statistics show, elephants may be following their ancestors to their death. Of the group of mammals called
Unfortunately, keeping these elephants captive has caused issues. The females are at least 35 years of age which isn’t very essential for reproduction so as a result the mortality rate amongst the calves and disease within the
It's a widely known fact that poaching has been detrimental to the welfare and very existence of elephants. Despite countless efforts to thwart poaching and ivory trade missions, the number of elephant deaths at the hands of poachers is still critically high. IB Times reported in 2015 that due to poaching, a staggering 35,000 African elephants are killed each year—that translates to nearly 100 elephants
The author of this article, Michael D. Lemonick, discusses how some animals aren't able to be kept humanely in captivity. This article mainly focuses on elephants that are kept in captivity. Normally elephants roam up to, if not more than, 30 miles a day and they socialize with up to 20 other elephants a day. While in captivity, elephants are not experiencing their lives the way they should. If an elephant is in an exhibit that is too small for them, they can develop serious health issues such as, foot problems, arthritis, and even premature deaths. Most zoos aren't equipped to take care of elephants like they should. Lemonick discusses zoos across the country that have stopped exhibiting elephants altogether, due to severe issues seen in elephants.
According to Richard Perez- Penamarch The Ringling Brother’s circus has a total of forty-three Asian elephants, at approximately 65,000 dollars per year separately. That is approximately 2,795,000 dollars in all, per year to maintain proper care of their elephants. We must stop using animals as entertainment immediately. This is just wrong it leads to aggressiveness in animals, causes distress, and leads to animal abuse!
Deborah Nelson is a journalist on the faculty of the University of Maryland. She is the author of The War Behind Me: Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth About U.S. War Crimes.
It is not predictable or preventable accident. The only thing that can be done- and even this is a danger to the public- is to get a battery of police officers in with heavy weapons and gun the elephant down.”(peta) Why are there tranquilizers, if we don’t even use them when the animals break free? If it is this difficult, and there are so much risks to having elephants in entertainment like circuses, then why are they still being
The description of the elephant in distress displays physical incapacity. The elephant appears to be at its most momentous just before it plunges to the ground. This illustrates that at the elephant’s final hour of a notable defeat becomes a more influential idol of the preposterous ruthlessness of colonialism. As the narrator came to a realization of his actions, he sees that the people that were verbally harassing him became a fan of him. The narrator hoped no one exposes his skepticism of not killing the elephant to “avoid looking like a fool” which I believe is completely absurd.
Jumbo is not the only sign of poor treatment of elephants in zoos, in fact, there is currently an elephant named Happy, who is living in a lifetime of misery. The Bronx Zoo is one of the most famous, loved zoos in the world. The zoo has done remarkable work in the world of conservation, however, something most people do not know is that the Bronx Zoo was named the worst zoo in the world for elephants. How do we know this? We know this from learning about Happy the elephant. When Happy was a baby she and her 6 siblings were torn from their families in Thailand to live in zoos. (None of the elephants were unhealthy, and were not needed for a breeding program ). The seven siblings were split, which is something that never would happen in the wild, and Happy and Grumpy were sent to the Bronx zoo where they were placed with two other elephants. The other two elephants did not get along with Grumpy, and
77 elephants were examined at a British zoo, and only 11 of them were able to walk correctly. It is said that advancements are being made to improve elephant environments in captivity, but numerous zoos have shut down their elephant attractions (Smith, 2008).
I think elephants do belong in zoos. Here are my reasons why they do belong in zoos. One is lifespan/disease, Second is People can see elephants, Third is Work out.
As they do not have the same freedom they would do in the wild, they show behaviours such as head weaving and bobbing (Maple, 2013). These show a more precise indication of poor welfare (Kleiman, 2010). The constant movements in their bodies can cause implications such as arthritis and joint pressure (Rees, 2013). However, being kept in zoos means that they do not face the daily issues that occur in the wild (Maple, 2013); drought, poaching, starvation, predation, illness and loss (Wemmer, 2008). The stereotypic behaviours that Elephants show are caused by the area lacking the correct enrichment and space (Kleiman, 2010). However, it can also be related to the amount of stress due to noise pollution of human interaction around the enclosed area (Rees, 2013). In the wild, elephants can live up to the age of 50, where-as in zoos; they do not live long (Allen, 2010). Another issue is that in the wild, if an elephant saw someone or something they did not like, they have the chance to escape or move, where as in captivity they are secured into one place and so can become highly stressed (Maple,
One very famous circus is The Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling Brothers year baby elephants away from their mothers right after they are born. When the baby elephants are taken away they go to a building with concrete floors and are forced to stand there for twenty-three hours a day, without even being able to turn around, and they have to do this for six months straight. After those tretrious months, the trainers use bullhooks, ropes, and electric prods to get the young elephants to do what they want them to. This training is unmonitored by any agency of any kind. Elephants are beaten for any slight disobedience. After the trainers beat them into “better performers” they normally have wounds from the hooks, prods, and ropes, that they cover up with “wonder dust” so the inspectors can't see them. Another thing they do After the elephants are trained is chain them up and make them stay like that the whole time they are not training. When traveling they have to be in a box car with other animals for up to one hundred hours straight. Since the Ringling Brothers Circus is so famous, it has gotten a lot of prospectors in every town they go to. The horrible circus is about to be taken down since more people hate they way they treat their animals then the small majority that actually want to watch their shows.(www.Peta.com.
An elephant protects itself using its trunk, and tusks. Elephants are nonaggressive animals. The only time an elephant will hurt another living is if it is being attacked, alarmed, or if another animals in its family is being hurt. An elephant uses its trunk to sense vibrations from predator trying to attack them. Their trunk is a good example of showing aggression towards other animals. If a predator tries to attack them, an elephants trunk and size while intimidate them causing the animal to not attack. If an elephant is annoyed they can do serious damage. An elephant is capable of killing a rhino and hippo. They are also capable of wrecking cars and other vehicles.
The provision of documentation has distinguished approximately 55 cases of arthritis within wild and captive Asian elephants over a 20 year time scale; although along with other foot problems it’s predominantly factor behind captive euthanasia. Working Asian elephants are more susceptible than their wild relatives due injuries being frequently inflicted throughout the day by the mahouts, constantly been transmitted disease and constantly standing on the concrete especially during throughout the hotter season in which tourism grow rapidly. The species predominantly displays arthritis within the front legs due to applying higher quantities of pressure on them; although implications occur within the health and welfare including reluctant to lie down and becoming lethargic.