The Oppression Of Animals

A little girl got lost behind a circus on her way to the bathroom, only to come out and see an elephant being hooked and whipped by multiple grown men at the same time. She noticed it was the same elephant that tripped on stage 5 minutes before. I could have been that little girl, and I know I'd be terrified to ever go back to a circus or zoo again. As an animal lover, I wanted to see something done about the situation. It’s not fair to animals. Circuses shouldn’t even be a thing. Animals deserve a fair life in the wild where they belong. They shouldn’t have to be absolutely terrified every time they make the even smallest mistake. While researching this topic I found I had few questions that weren’t answered in any articles. How long has this been going on? Why haven’t people tried to fix this earlier? But there was one question, my driving question, the one I really wanted an answer to. It was: What can I do to help animals around the world from being abused in entertainment? After researching through videos, articles, and podcasts I’ve found that there aren’t many that had solutions, but there are still many possible solutions.

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.

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

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.

When adults take their children to the circus, they expect their child to be mesmerized. What is there for a child not to be captivated by? Between the dazzling display of lights, the vast amount of animals, and the entertaining clowns all over the place, the circus is a great experience for any child. While the tigers are jumping through hoops of fire, the elephants are being prepared to go out into the center ring. The audience is going wild and the children are screaming in excitement. Before the elephants begin their march into the ring, the trainers, behind the scenes, take one last hit at them with their bull hooks. One elephant trumpets in pain as the hook gashes its skin. While all this is going on, a lion is imprisoned in a cage

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.

Animals want to escape or rebel against authority. Circus elephants are most famous for their outbreaks and forcefulness towards crowds. It is easy to blame the handler’s for not taking proper care and not being able to control their animal. With proper handling and care treatments, there could be less outbreaks and more peacefulness amongst the humans and elephants. For those people who are hurting and abusing the circus animals, there is little being done to convict

Some children think of running away to join the circus as a fantasy, while animals performing in circuses think of running away as a fantasy. Elephants used in circuses are captives who are obligated to perform confusing, uncomfortable, repetitive, and often painful acts. There is no doubt that circuses would lose their appeal if more people were aware of the brutal techniques used to train the elephants as well as the cramped traveling confinement, and diseases' elephants develop throughout the years of cruelty.

It is under these conditions that circus animals “go bad”. Since the inception of the travelling circus, there have been numerous accounts of animals mauling and killing trainers and audience members. Historically, elephant attacks are the most publicized and referenced. This may be because elephants seem to be gentle giants, making their attacks all the more shocking, or that the physical and financial damage done by a marauding elephant is astounding. It can also be

The life of a circus animal is hard and demanding. It is not an acceptable way of life for an animal. Circuses would quickly lose their appeal if the public were more aware of their mistreatments of these animals. Many circuses do not have much money and as a result the animals suffer from inadequate care. These animals spend most of their time in small cages used for transportation. The Animal Welfare Act provides cage requirements, but many circuses fail to follow this law. Even the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus was cited for 65 violations over a two-year period according to Florence Lambert. When traveling, animals spend hours, even days between sites in confinement..

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

The use for animal entertainment is cruel because they’re abused. According to The Last Chance for Animals Organization the weapons used in circus are bats, pitchforks etc. These are the things circus people use to show cruelty towards the animals. The article also states that, “these training practices generally will be hidden from public view”(Peta 1). This is saying what happens off stage are not shown on stage meaning, tortures towards animals. Physical tortures are hidden and now going into animals being sexually abused.

Living life as a circus animal is not as entertaining as it seems. If people in the public were aware of how these animals are being mistreated, circuses would lose their shows. Some people find elephants balancing on their trunks or lions jumping through fire entertaining. These animals suffer. We are curious on how these animals are being trained to perform crucial and painful tricks. Some of us think positive about circus. Others, wonder why the animal tamers are holding whips instead of treats. The reasons why circus animals should gain the public’s attention is because they spend most of their lives behind bars, their taken away from their mother’s right after birth, the method of training is physical punishment, and their being starved and dehydrated. Circus animals have caught attention to the audience for years, but the abuse behind these animals is a serious problem.

Animal circuses should be banned and illegal throughout the world. Animals in the circus do not receive proper care and treatment. They are beaten and forced to learn tricks and stunts against their will. Also, animals held in captivity do not learn specialized skills they instinctively pick up in the wild. Once a circus animal relies on humans for food and help, they will never be able to survive in the wild due to their dependency on humans. Many animals in the circus were pulled away from their mothers at a young age. These animals deserve to be with their families in their natural habitats not in cages, forced to perform tricks for human enjoyment. The use of animals in circuses is not morally correct and should be stopped.