As a young child, you would probably remember your parents taking you to the circus where you witnessed all your favourite animals preforming their tricks. As an innocent child you would not have thought about what happens behind the scenes or the preparation these animals experience before performing on stage.
The reality is that animals are trained by fear, suffering and disrespect, are kept in tiny cages where they can barely move around and they travel most of their life time in severe temperatures which they are not used to in their natural habitat. I strongly believe that circuses which make animals perform should be banned.
“Sink that hook into em … when you hear that screaming, then you know you’ve got their attention!”
Feet of elephants are chained because of their size otherwise they might escape.
How Are They Trained?
Animals in the circus do not willingly stand on their heads, with two legs, on balls, jump through rings on fire or ride bicycles. Animals don't normally do these useless acts in the wild or in their habitats.
Did you know that tigers are terrified of fire, but they would rather jump through it on rings than face the consequences of the trainers?
I went undercover inside the Carson & Barnes Circus, while a trainer was teaching his students their job and training 3 defenceless elephants. I documented and observed extreme animal abuse, including the elephants being beaten with baseball bats, pitchforks, shocked with electric prods; and hit on
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.
Animals are put through mental stress and pressure to fulfill the needs for humans, for them to see enjoyment, for humans to be satisfied while these animals are unhappy and depressed. Circus animals are put through huge mental stress, and pressure their whole life, as they are usually forced in travelling crates, barns, or trucks in which lacks room for these creatures to move freely. These travelling crates are uncomfortable and cramped. Once the animal is useless, they are either sold or put down, as the circus can't afford a “useless” animal. Yet numerous amounts of people don’t know what happens behind the closed curtains. Animals are punished if they fail
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.
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
Animal captivity has been an ongoing debate for over 60 years. There should be no question about whether animal captivity is wrong. “Hundreds of thousands of wild animals across the world are snatched from natural habitats, forced into captivity and subjected to abuse, both mentally and physically, in the name of entertainment and profit.” (World Animal Protection 1) Places such as the circus use abusive training methods such as, hooks, chains, whips, electric rods, and blunt instruments. (Born Free USA 1) Animals deserve to live freely in the wild. Their freedom is taken away the moment they are put in a cage. When animals are brought into
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.
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.
They are taken away from their families which hurts them emotionally. They are raised by humans who are trained to care for them, but they cannot substitute for the love of their mates. In addition, some of the animals that are born in a circus environment do not understand who they are or what group they belong to. For instance, if you take a tiger or elephant that has been living in the circus for most of their lifetime and bring it back to their original habitat, they will not be able to survive. They will not understand what is to hunt or to survive in the wild. Bentham explained, “You should be motivated to act, not for the sake of your own pleasure, but also for the sake of others’ pleasures, too.” A circus can entertain large crowds, but at the end of the day, circus representatives are taking animals from their natural habitats to pleasure others and they have no right to do so. Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey’s circus made a great ethical decision to support the animals’ rights and support that animals should not be used for entertainment anymore.
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.
Circus animals go through a tremendous amount of stress and are kept in isolation, leading to repetitive habits such as obsessive swaying, bobbing, chewing, sucking, weaving, rocking, and licking. Constant isolation leads to a tremendous amount of boredom as well. Performers have drilled a cruel lifestyle into the animals’ brains, where they are terrified to make mistakes – because mistakes lead to painful punishments. Constant mistreatment towards the animals can and has previously led to outbursts. Although they may just be animals, they have the tendency to build and bottle up rage just like humans do.
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.
Since the beginning of the modern day circus in the early 20th century millions of Americans have enjoyed the performances by both the people and the animals that perform for our entertainment. However, the audience is blinded by shock and awe of the show from what really happens behind the curtain. Animal cruelty, poor living conditions, and lack of legal regulation scars the animals and becomes very dangerous to the overall health of the animals and those who are around them. The mistreatment of animals in circuses has been occurring for far too long, and new laws need to be implemented in an effort to prevent future acts of cruelty toward these animals.
Lions and Tigers, who are used to running, hunting, and roaming are forced into small, barren cages for hours and hours on end without any stimulation whatsoever. Their only relief is for performances where they are whipped and forced to jump through rings of fire, which all Tigers are absolutely terrified of. Cats who do not comply with the trainers’ wishes are beaten and deprived of food. Circuses can get away with atrocities such as these because no agency keeps them accountable. They also do not take into account the animals’ natural behaviors. Tigers are solitary creatures but are forced into groups which often results in fights among the animals. Lions are used to roaming all day but in a circus they are kept in small cages constantly so their only time of exercise is for performances. (“This is Why”.) Cubs are separated form their mothers at an early age to make them dependent on humans and to not rely on their natural instincts. Circuses don’t take the animals’ well being into account which is why they should be
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