Pros And Cons Of A 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.

Zoos, SeaWorld, and circuses are places for families to enjoy entertainment. However, most people do not realize how the animals in each of these establishments are handled. Yes, they all bring in revenue and present the tricks these animals can do, yet these places preform detrimental acts to the animals. For example, the killer whales at SeaWorld are sometimes starved if they do not perform the way the trainer wants them to. In comparison, circuses torture lions and tigers until they are submissive to how the show-people want them to act. Zoos do not necessarily torture their animals, but it is proven the animals live much shorter lives in captivity. “Lives of animals in the wild versus captivity are literally worlds apart, and even the best captive facilities can’t recreate the conditions of the wild — not exactly. Most don’t even try, leaving animals in tiny enclosures with no socialization, enrichment or joy. Captivity is unnatural and unhealthy” (Sentenac). People are starting to recognize the danger of continuing these practices, but there’s a long way to go.Furthermore, animals in all of these places have suffered many traumatizing and even deadly events. There was a recent report that two circus lions, whom had severe head injuries, were killed by poachers who snuck into the sanctuary. “Last year poachers bypassed an advanced security system at a lodge near the town of Tzaneen in the Limpopo province, killing two lions by feeding them poisoned meat” (Graham).

Circus performers are people of great courage. They have to make a living out of entertaining people that pay good money to watch them and want to get their money's worth. They have a lot of pressure from that, as well as peer pressure from their fellow performers. Not only do they have pressure from that, they have to worry about the very acts being preformed from playing with swords and fire to hanging from a wire hundreds of feet in the air. If their not focused on what they are doing, they can be killed in a instant.

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”).

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

I really enjoyed going to the circus as a child but, I never knew how it was planned out. After reading my novel I’m surprised at how many problems a circus faces, even though it’s such an exciting place.

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

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.

Back in 1782, the very first circus show was performed in the Amphithéâtre Anglois, Paris, France. The circus progressed into shows in tents, with very distinct circus music, spotlight features, star performers for each act, and basic costumes. Animals like lions, elephants and monkeys were typical acts. Many people tried to copy circus, and it worked. Too much competition meant no time to expand with new ideas. These businesses often struggled. In the end, circus didn’t seem so special

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.

Title: Should animals be used in circuses for entertainment purpose? For years animals have been used in circuses for performances to entertain audiences. While acknowledging the fact that many of the circus animals are not seriously maltreated, this essay holds the view that training animals for performances in circuses should be banned since it is inhumane as it deprives animals of their freedoms and potentially poses threat to both their physical and psychological behaviours. To commence with, circuses are unlikely to provide adequate spacing to circuses animals, especially when they are touring around. Unlike those animals kept in zoos, not only the enclosure sizes of the animals has to be compromised for their portability, the environments

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

* Animal acts provided an added form of entertainment along with the various circus acts. Electric lights and moving pictures also added to the magic of the circus.