Poor Treatment of Circus Animals Essays

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.

This is good news for elephant lovers everywhere, but for the lions, tigers, monkeys, and bears it’s not something to celebrate. Although the big, colorful tents and cheery music may draw a crowd, circuses are notoriously known for the treatment of their animals, and for good reason, too. According to DoSomething.org, “virtually 96 percent of a circus animal’s life is spent in chains or cages” (“11 Facts”). These cages have no separate area for eating, sleeping or defecating, which can lead to sickness, irritability, and even death. When not performing, the time spent out of these cages is to teach the animals to perform outlandish tasks, using training methods such as whipping, food deprivation, and electric prods (“11 Facts”).

In the National Geographic article, “Why all of Americas circus animals could soon be free”, it talks about the stress animals endure from being on the road, being forced to perform, and traveling in confined spaces. The President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, says “Wild animals, even if they are born in captivity retain all their natural instincts, which are thwarted when they’re trapped in small cages”. Therefore, they are prevented from being able to use their natural instincts and are forced to perform natural physical acts like balancing on a tightrope and chairs. When the animals don’t cooperate, they may be hit or disciplined in some way, whipped, or deprived of food. Elephants are struck with sharp metal poles beginning at an early age until they learn to

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.

Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus has recently declared the end of their career and disbanded the circus. Since the disbandment an ongoing discussion concerning the circus and its ethics has been widely discussed by many different groups; but disagreement can be most strongly seen between the discourse of animal welfare groups, and the circus performers themselves. The topics being addressed is how these different populations perceives the events surrounding the circus’s disbandment and what is actually more beneficial for the circus animals and the performers in the long run after the greatest show on Earth is over. The discontinuities often seen among these two groups when the circus is discussed are: the languages of unnatural behavior, abuse, the description of culture, sports, art, along with the

The article “Animal Activists Finally Have Something To Applaud At Ringling Bros. Circus: Its Closure”, by Amy B. Wang and published by The Washington Post is about Ringling Brothers and Bailey Circus coming to an end. It shows that animal rights groups have strong emotions towards abusing animals for entertainment. Shortly after Feld Entertainment (A production company and owner of Ringling Brothers and Bailey Circus) stopped using elephants but shortly after Ringling Brothers announced their permanent leave from the circus.

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.

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.

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.

For instance, Andy Coghlan in Circus Captivity Is Beastly for Wild Animals asserts, “The survey concludes that on average, wild animals spend just 1 to 9 per cent of their time training, and the rest confined to cages, wagons or enclosures typically covering a quarter the area recommended for zoos” (Coghlan 1). Wild animals within the circus business are confined to small quarters estimate 8 square feet for most animals, which is the equivalent to being locked in a prison cell. Also, being trapped in a box for hours on end can only cause discomfort and be physically daunting on an animal especially when having to perform back to back shows

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.

“When I look at animals held captive I think of slavery. Animals in circuses represent the domination and oppression we have fought against for so long. They wear the same chains and shackles.” The United States Animal Welfare has standards of care. When looking at the major circuses, they have all been cited for violating the standards. Animals feel just as much, if not more emotions and humans. Circuses should be eliminated completely because of the animals dangerous living conditions, the long term damage it does to the animals, and the mammals could pose a potential threat to the spectators.

Circus animal abuse is, unfortunately, quite the common occurrence. Many people go to the circus because all they see are good and fun times. There are quite a number of things that people don't know about the circus, and here are some of them. Stay tuned for part 2, which will be here soon.

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