Negative Effects Of The Circus

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.

The amount of risk that the circus performers have to deal with on a daily basis is flat out remarkable. They look a death and danger and smile like its nothing to them. Only a special group of people to have enough courage, or as some might say “stupidity” to do this line of work and love it. But the greatest thing of all about them is that they don't care how dangerous something is, if they think they can do it, they will do what ever it takes to accomplish it. We can all learn from that kind of

During this time period, there was little to no regulation of the circus crew or the animals. This was the situation in a Water for Elephants. To top it all off, the show was owned and operated by a money hungry and cruel person, who would do anything to save money such as not paying the workers, not feeding the workers, not giving the exotic animals proper care and the list goes on. But in the circus, the audience seem to buy into the performer's deceptions. The audience is completely oblivious and are deceived by this circus, but in reality the circus is not as perfect as they make it

In the 1900s, circuses were extremely popular and prevalent in the west. During the downfall of the circus industry, “wealthy industrialists and professionals who loved the circus formed the Circus Fans Associations…whose motto, “We fight anything that fights the circus,” summed up its philosophy” (Pfening 24). Ironically, it is proven that “the last twenty-five years of the nineteenth century was the apogee [or the climax] of the American circus” (Pfening 5). People were attracted to the charismatic spirit of the circus during the anguish and despair that came along with the Great Depression.

This time around, it is middle America enjoying the circus on their wide-screen televisions in the privileged privacy of their dens and theater rooms. As the vast array of freaks in the popular media reveals, the circus, defined by Rosemary Thomson, in her book, Extraordinary Bodies, as a “cultural space of seemingly infinite license” (5), has us mesmerized: dwarfs, plastic surgery addicts, tattooed people, fatties and living skeletons, cross-dressers and child beauty contestants, to name a few. The world of so-called reality television, which appears to be a modern manifestation of the carnival

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.

Central Idea: Animals should not be kept for circus production because they are removed from home, beaten into submission, and rebel against against captivity.

In the last ten months alone, a prominent animal welfare group called PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has released over seventeen videos on Facebook speaking out against circuses. The most popular of these activist’s videos has been viewed by over 5.5 million people. Animal welfare groups seem mostly concerned with the natural inclination of wildlife. When describing the circus, almost every animal activist group has at some point brought up just how unnatural the behaviors required for performance animals to display appears, when they are entertaining an audience in a show. Niedrich from Michigan State University’s Law department has cited in her article the behaviors of tigers who are naturally fearful of fire jumping through burning hoops, and elephants, the largest land mammal in the world, balancing on tiny pedestals, as examples of unnatural behaviors. This implies that activists like Niedrich define unnatural as; behaviors displayed by animals that goes against wild instincts, or behaviors observed in free roaming animals that lack human involvement. Niedrich specifically stated

Ashley Timms Persuasive Speech Riker April 14, 2015 Behind the Big Top I’m sure the majority of you have been to a circus. Can you take a moment with me and let’s imagine watching the acrobats walking the tight rope high above the ring? And how exciting was it as a child to witness a tiger with gigantic teeth jump through a flaming hoop? Or to hold your breath while a bear somehow rides a bike just like you and I.

According The Wall Street Journal” … Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian company that redefined the dynamics of a declining circus industry in the 1980s. Under conventional strategy analysis, the circus industry was a loser. Star performers had “supplier power” over the company. Alternative forms of entertainment, from sporting events to home entertainment systems, were relatively inexpensive and on the rise. Moreover, animal rights groups were putting increased pressure on circuses for their treatment of animals.” (Murray, 2014) A new era was created transforming the concept of what is a circus today. As the Wall Street Journal described, “Cirque du Soleil eliminated the animals and reduced the importance of individual stars. It created a new form of entertainment that combined dance, music and athletic skill to appeal to an upscale adult audience that had abandoned the traditional circus. (Murray, 2014)

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.

artistic shows which semblance a circus but it’s not quite the same. For starters, all of

On the other hand, circus includes wild animals, and for these wild animals to perform scripted

Training is another concern. Physical punishment has long been the standard training method for animals in circuses. These methods are simply cruel. They include the use of electric prods, whips, and even some animals especially large cats, have their teeth removed. Bears balancing on balls, apes riding motorcycles, elephants standing on two legs are acts that are physically uncomfortable and behaviorally unnatural. Such “performances” do not teach audiences about how animals behave under normal circumstances. Instead, they are often portrayed as ferocious and stupid.

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