Right To Bear Elephants

Not surprisingly, elephants are known for being more emotional and empathetic animals than the rest. According the three articles, “Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk”, “Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk in a Cooperative Task”, and “Elephants Console Each Other” elephants understand when they need each other’s assistance. All two authors describe the studies of elephant behavior differently, but with a similar purpose.

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.

The official title of the world’s largest land dwelling animal belongs to the elephant, more specifically, the African elephant. Elephants are some of the most deadly animals, which increases the danger of human and elephant interactions. Increased human and elephant interactions lead to increased deaths of both humans and elephants. Surprisingly, these animals are socially apt. The 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

Firstly, animals in captivity show distraught behavior and don’t have the same abilities as those in the wild. For example, in the article The Loneliest Elephant written by Tracy Tullis, it states, “With limited space and and no infants to care for, captive elephants can become catatonically bored. A great majority of elephants in American zoos -- as much as 80 percent according to a 2013 study by the Honolulu Zoo -- develop disturbing neurotic behaviors, such as repetitive swaying and head bobbing.” Furthermore, it is clear that some animals in zoos behave differently, in a negative manner, in zoos than in their natural habitat (Tullis, 3). Also, a wildlife behavioral biologist Toni Frohof talks about Happy, an elephant kept in isolation at the Bronx Zoo. His words in The Loneliest Elephant was, “She exhibits self-awareness, yet one of the most important aspects of her psychological and physical life, the ability to be around other elephants, she’s been deprived of.” This shows, elephants who are caged in seclusion don’t feel the same as other elephants who get to be around each other 24/7; Happy is forced to be alone for the rest of her life (Tullis, 3). Concludingly, elephants and other animals can form mental and physical issues while caged or isolated.

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

When the circus comes to town, children’s eyes boggle with amazement as excitement fills the air. Under the big top, the stunts of humans and animals alike mesmerize and capture the audience's attention. Spectators become astonished at the miraculous accomplishments of the animals, and they are willing to pay massive amounts of money to see exotic creatures outside of their natural habits. However, circuses are not what they seem. “It's a classic image: elephants lumbering trunk to tail.

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

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

Trump’s lift on the ban of endangered elephant trophy imports into the U.S. is just another prime example of how politics and money take precedence over precious life and the environment. Fortunately, the new policy that Trump is considering is on-hold. According to Tanya Sernerib, Center for Biological Diversity Attorney, “we are in the midst of a poaching crisis. Elephant populations across Africa are declining”, she said in an interview with WCCO CBS Minnesota in November 2017. It was reported in that same broadcast that the elephant population on the African continent declined by 30% between 2007 and 2014 based on a report released by the Great Elephant Census Organization in 2016. If the ban is not lifted, those interested in sports

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.

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

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.

They don?t have sufficient room to roam as they naturally would, nor do they have maybe one or two roommates, so to speak. It is not just the elephants who cannot act as they would in their natural habitats, but any animal in a zoo. So, when visitors have negative attitudes and behaviors while visiting the zoo, such as: yelling, throwing objects, and making fun of the animals, they are making the animals less comfortable. Visitors actions can and have caused psychological damage to the animals. This damage can sometimes be deadly (?

Zoo animals are also kept in small spaces. Animals such as elephants and tigers roam large areas which should never be held captive. The animals become agitated or depressed when they’re confined. Furthermore, statistics from 1990 show many attacks and deaths caused by zoo animals.