I. Introduction
“Elephants . . . are the pegs on which the circus is hung.”
Elephants are the largest living land animals in the world today. An animal is a living organism, other than a human, that feeds on organic matter typically having a specialized sense, nervous system and a rapid response to interaction. Circuses have used elephants for entertainment since the 18th century.
Elephants in circuses are held in captivity and are not free to do many of his or her natural behaviors. Captivity restrains an elephant’s natural movement, feeding habits, hiding habits, and limits the elephant’s social interaction skills with other elephants. Elephants in circuses are forced to perform acts that are unnatural to the elephant’s normal movements. Elephants in circuses are beaten into submission until the elephant is tamed and able to be led.
Circus owners claim that using elephants in performances are educational. Since elephants are not natives to North America the only opportunities a person had to observe elephants were going to a circus performance or zoo. However, a person can learn about elephants through documentaries, You Tube videos, books and
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The laws that regulate the treatment of circus elephants are: The Animal Welfare Act, The Endangered Species Act and State and local laws. But, these laws for the mostly, do not specifically address circus elephants. There is little case law concerning the welfare of circus elephants because animal activist groups lack standing to sue circus owners. Most plaintiffs are not able to prove that the injury is “arguably within the zone of interest” to be protected under the statute. However, there are several law review articles, reports from official government agencies, animal activist groups, news reporters, and former elephant trainers that engage in the discussion of the mistreatment of circus
According to the beginning of the video, it states, “Scientists now believe [elephants are] among the world’s most cognitively advanced animals.” The outcome of this experiment was so positive that now elephants are one of the world's most advanced animals. However, this took the scientists by surprise. Subsequently, it also states in the video, “Elephants recently aced an IQ test with two of them even figuring out shortcuts the researches hadn't thought of.” This in particular, was most outstanding due to to the fact that the researchers didn’t even think of the shortcut that the elephants made. This really proves that elephants are wise mammals; possibly, even wiser than us humans. To conclude, it states in the video, “Scientists say the test highlights not only the intelligence of individual elephants but also their ability to cooperate and understand the value of teamwork.” This here exhibits that the elephants understand that certain tasks need to be done with the assistance of others, not just by themselves. Thus, as the video illustrates the elephants are more brainy than we
Each author has the same purpose in writing about the elephant studies and there are many similarities and differences in which the elephants behaved.
Largely known as the biggest animal on the planet, elephant is always considered human’ friendliest wild friend. We have coexisted from the beginning of time, working, sharing this increasingly overcrowded land. In the crazy and fast pacing world of animals and the endless fight over the places in the food chain , elephant is still supposed to be the calmest because, according to some children’s book, those problems are too small compared to the size of the animal. However, it seems that this theory is only true in the childhood fantasy. In “An Elephant Crackup?”, Charles Siebert drills on the downfall of elephants. He gives a depiction of the recent raging and violent acts of the elephants, and presents an educated and almost unexpected
Elephants, although they are very large animals, are known to be graceful and sociable. They are among one of the most intelligent, sensitive animals on the planet, perhaps even approaching human intelligence and emotion. But lately, their behavior has changed. When we hear stories of elephants being violent we have to remember that they are wild animals. The fact that we have become so used to seeing them around people does not mean that as a whole they have become domesticated. According to many sources cited by Charles Siebert in his essay “An Elephant Crackup?” one of the reasons given to explain this weird change of behavior was “the precipitous collapse of elephant culture.”
Poachers have intoxicated water where the elephants drink from, they have used automatic weapons, and have even used poisoned arrows to kill them. These enormous creatures are gentle, and are being killed for their tusks. This is greed at it’s finest. Poachers have not yet to be stopped and about 92 elephants are being killed everyday. Since this is illegal, ironically when someone smuggles ivory in the United States they only do about 25 months in most cases. Poachers only do only two years of prison time, but an elephant is completely dead because of this. Sadly, poachers are still very hard to find and have not yet been brought up to
Cohn, Jeffrey P. "Do Elephants Belong In Zoos?" Bioscience 56.9 (2006): 714-717. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
71% of the circus animals observed by the study suffered medical problems.("Animal abuse facts and Stats") The use of animals in circuses should be banned because of the credulity towards the animals. Circuses use the method of physical abuse to train the animals. Some circuses also use food and water deprivation to make them do the routines. Wild animals should not be treated poorly. Watching exotic animals do tricks is amusing to people.
Elephants should not be killed because they are one of the main reasons that people visit the foreign land of Africa. Africa is incredibly hot and is not the most intriguing place to go on your vacation. If there were no elephants the amount of tourists would significantly decrease. Twenty eight percent of all tourist come to see the elephants. In the movie “Ivory Wars” the narrator says “ One of the few attractions for tourists is the African elephants that run wild and free across the vast plains of the continent of Africa.” When the amount of tourists decrease so does the money that they pay to see the elephants at a safari. Africa is obviously does not have the strongest economy to begin with and without the elephants to bring in tourists the continent of Africa will fall apart. Elephants are exotic and amazing to see, and without them would there really be a reason to visit Africa?
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.
The smell of popcorn and cotton candy in the air and the sight of elephants entering the big top, trunk in tail, seems like a dream come true. How they perform those intricate tricks so smoothly is quite a sight. How are those large creatures capable of a headstand? Well, according to a New York Times article, circus elephants endure training methods that include: electric prodding, beatings, hours of being chained up, and unimaginable cruelty. Due to their large size many trainers feel that the intimidation method is the only way such a large and wild creature can be trained (“Its a Wonder More”). Often people are unaware of the abuse that goes on in the training of these gentle giants. Maggie Knox, author of the article “Students Protest Cruelty Towards Circus Elephants,” shares the fact that an elephants is not the family dog and cannot be trained with treats; therefore, they are trained to be frightened of not performing. Tricia Lebkuecher, the service chair for Vegetarians International Voice for Animals, states that, “it is unethical to use wild animals for entertainment purposes.”(qtd. in Knox 1). Ringling Bros is one of the worst offenders and was fined $270,000 for animal cruelty which is one of the largest circus fines in history. They have received several citations over the years for poor handling, improper veterinary attention, and unsanitary feeding methods (Knox 1). While the sight of elephants performing in a big top may be a dream come true, it is an elephants worst nightmare. Due to the suffering that circuses inflict on elephants, they should no longer have the privilege of working with or caring for elephants.
National Geographic did a study on more than 4,500 wild and captive African and Asian elephants. Their study showed that elephants live about 16-18 years in captivity, while in the wild they can live upwards of 50 years. This is a difference too great to be ignored. This further proves the notion that zoos are for humans, not animals. No animal should be subjected to a place where they live thirty or more years less just because humans want them there for
The number of African and Asian elephants in North American zoos is declining as a result of many medical issues. A new disease has recently been discovered that is now hindering elephant’s ability to survive even further. This is a major problem because according to Science Magazine, as of 1997, there are only an estimated 291 Asian elephants and 193 African elephants left in North American zoos. Since this survey was conducted, this number has severely declined. It is now estimated that for every elephant that is born in a zoo another three die.
The article “Animals Used as Entertainment” lists rodeos, circuses, bullfighting, horse racing, cockfighting, dog fighting, and zoos as examples of the many ways animals are used in entertainment. Circuses and zoos are the two most relevant forms of animal mistreatment. Both of these are sources of entertainment for children and adults. Zoos declare that the...
...yclopedia’s which help to start the investigation process. Second, I plan to look to secondary sources. These secondary sources include journal articles, blogs, and other websites. I have found many journals and websites dedicated to the understanding of elephants. There are also many videos which explain animals as divinities and festivals where elephants are present. Furthermore, I plan to observe actual phenomenon including artwork and human behavior around elephants. I also plan to observe by behavior towards elephants and the impact they have had on my life.
What do you think about when you hear the word Africa? How about the word safari? Most people tend to think about elephants or giraffes. In this paper I will tell you many important facts about elephants: how they live, their appearance, and many other interesting facts about them. There are two different kinds of elephants; the African elephant and the Asian elephant (also known as the Indian elephant). The African elephant is the larger of the two.