The circus is one of a classic image, elephants lumbering trunk to tail. But is this docility born of positive reinforcement, or the fear of being beaten? When the yearly circus comes to town, it has but one thing in mind, entertainment. Both the stunts of animals and humans alike are mesmerizing and capture the audience's attention. Spectator’s become amazed at the miraculous accomplishments of the animals, and they are willing to pay mass amounts of money to see wild animals outside of their natural habits. But, circuses are not what they seem, the animals needs are not sustained, they are not taken into consideration. What many fail to realize is that the performing animals are not acting out of love, but instead they provide entertainment …show more content…
Just moments after being born baby animals are ripped away from the clutches of their nurturing mothers. As seen in this video______________. Not only are these magnificent creatures raised without a mother, but when they are in training physical punishment is common. Almost immediately following their birth babies are forced to endure the “correction process.” This is when circus employees will chain the newborn down and repeatedly beat the animal to break their free-willed spirit. Bullhooks, electric prods, pitchforks, clubs, and whips are just the beginning of the inhumane instruments used to “tame” these animals. Unlike domesticated animals, there is no positive reinforcement when a trick is performed correctly. There is only varying levels of neglect, punishment, and abuse. No animal wishes to balance on a ball, jump through hoops, or even parade around in sparkling attire, these humiliating tricks of the circus are not done willinging, and none of these pointless acts would be executed in their natural environment. The only reason spectators see circus animals perform is because they are afraid of what will happen to them if they do
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”).
However, recently part of the world had been shocked with the video footage of animals cruelty in an infamous circus. This had arisen a controversy of whether we should use animals in circus or not. Little of us knew what exactly went behind the circus and how the animals were trained, despite the fact that they did give the best entertainment to mankind.
But is this docility born of positive reinforcement—or fear of being beaten?” (Nelson). With the circuses’ primary focus being on entertainment, the animals’ needs are the last thing that they take into consideration. And circus advocates turn a blind eye to
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.
Imagine being drugged, taken to an unknown place, and being tortured to do actions foreign to your natural behaviour, but knowing it would be much worse if you disobey. That is the life of animals used for entertainment every day. Animals have been used as a means for entertainment for centuries now, not treated with the respect they deserve. The utilization of animals for entertainment may help attract people to learning more about a certain animal, however, manipulating animals for entertainment violates the animal’s rights and freedoms, and, more often than not, animals utilized for entertainment live in detrimental environments, despite people’s endeavors to end it.
My thesis (what will my story show/prove?): Ariana travels on the train and learns that the key to a successful circus is to build a relationship with the animals as well as knowing the line between discipline and abusing.
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).
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
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.
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.
Animals aren’t actors, circus clowns or prisoners. So, how come it’s okay to force them to perform confusing tricks or travel across the country in cages and trailers? Why are they exploited for human amusement? Unfortunately, some of these animals even lose their lives from incessant physical punishment and abuse. Animal suffering can be seen in many forms of entertainment including rodeos, circuses, and zoos. There are around eight hundred professional rodeos and a number of smaller ones in the United States each year (Francione 25). They involve a series of timed events using horses and other farm animals designed to challenge the skills of the contestants. Circuses are also a very popular form of entertainment that began in the late
When you see an animal do a trick for you, you may think that it is amazing an animal can do that, but the training in some cases that animals go through to perform those tricks is inhumane. Snake charming is when a snake appears to dance to the music of a flutist. How the flutist gets the snake to do this is where the problem occurs. Physical abuse is the way the trainer gets the snake to act in this matter (manner?) and the snake is moving in fear of the moving flute (Tiplady 2013). Another type of animal training that involves abuse is when it comes to dancing bears. The bears are taken from their mothers at a young age and put through unnecessary pain. The young bears are castrated and have their canines removed. A rope is then is inserted through their muzzle and the pulling of the rope is what causes the bear to dance (Tiplady 2013).
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.
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.
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