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 red and orange drapes. The sweet, endearing smell of fresh cotton candy and popcorn fills the humid air with thrilling excitement. When the eccentric show has reached the grand finale and has finally come to an end, a trainer swiftly arrives with a pointy bull hook and forcefully thrusts it into the elephant’s scarred side. Bloody wounds are all over its body from the mistreatment of the circus industry and trainers. 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 in the high top. 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.
Beginning the process of putting together a circus show takes a colossal abundance of work. First, some exotic animals must be captured and trained. The majority of circus animals are caught in the wild; the animals put in several years of service to the circuses, such as Ringling Brothers Circus and Barnum and Bailey Circus. Animals that are born into the circus business are held until the need to replace a retiring performer arises (Minutes of Entertainment, 2). To train the animals, shocking, poking, prodding, starving, and striking are used to “prevent violent and atroc...
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...ment that people pay a moderate amount of money to attend. The mistreatment of circus animals is cruel, mind-blowing, and inhumane.
Works Cited
"Last Chance for Animals - Circuses." Last Chance for Animals - Circuses. Last Chance for Animals, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. .
"Minutes of Entertainment. A Lifetime of Misery." Born Free U.S.A. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. .
Smith, RaeLeann. "Circus Animals: Abused and Dangerous." Encyclopedia Britannica Blog. N.p., 6 Nov. 2007. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .
Thorburn, Mark A., and ANDREW LINZEY. "Animal Rights." Encyclopedia.com. 01 Jan. 2002. HighBeam Research. 20 Apr. 2014 .
Once the viewer makes a connection between circuses and their inhumane practices, it increases the chances of that person choosing to support animal free circuses. The text refers to circus animals as “human caricatures” which projects these animals as mere sources of entertainment rather than living creatures. This line also makes a connection between the word “caricature” and the painted faces of the animals, enhancing the aspect of pathos and ethos in the viewer by appealing to our moral values of respecting any form of life. The circus script further goes into detail of the cruel treatment of animals, this in turn creates disturbing imagery in the audience’s mind that connects to their emotional side of thinking and reasoning. “The crack of the whip against the animal’s stinging wounds.”, “…the injuries and the electric shocks.” “Come and see the famed number of cages and tightly binding chains allowing no escape from endless training sessions.” These three lines are meant to jolt the audience into realization and an understanding of the unending torture that the animals go through at the hand of their trainer’s whips. The line “…repetitive choreographed routine typical of depressed animals under great stress,” connects to the imagery of the lion and its painted facial expressions. The lion has happy clown makeup on its face, but underneath
Circuses portray animals as talented and well-behaved beings, but behind closed doors, the animals are placed in pain and misery to perform the demeaning acts. Animals suffer without the publics’ knowledge of such torture. Laws protect these animals but are not sturdy enough to stop the overall sadness of the animals.
The universal entertainment industry, with its long history of treating all performers equally and respecting all forms of art with no judgement or prejudice, has paved the way for humanity to create negative consequences in the form of commercial zoos, aquariums, circuses, and similar institutions where the bravery of animals is continuously tested by the cruelty of humanity. Humanity, with its history of treating its own people like lesser beings, has now moved onto mistreating animals- confining animals into small enclosures and limiting their exercise, loaning and trading animals to other institutions, and tearing animals away from their families for the sake of profit and entertainment. These poor animals kept in captivity also have a shorter lifespan (with one example being orca whales who lose a median of ninety-one years from its maximum age of a hundred) and often suffer forms of extreme anxiety which could lead to further violence at the institutions. In spite of all of this cruelty, there is also a lack of income and customers being produced from these horrific actions- with customer attendance going down each year all around the world (especially in America). To me, I see
In addition, Pi Patel"'"s journey helped him have a great view on life and its value, allowing him to give many anecdotes that make the reader stop and think. For example: '"'I have nothing to say of my working life, only that a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless if he"'"s not careful.'"' Secondly, this book is packed with zoological information including mating, hunting, and sleeping habits of a variety of animals from hippopotamuses to '"'meerkats'"' (small African carnivorous burrowing mammals). Also, it includes many circus trainer tactics for lions and tigers, such as using foreign surroundings, having an erect posture, a calm demeanour, a steady gaze, a fearless step forward, a strange roar, etc. Also, Pi Patel"'"s very original view on how animals are indeed happy in a zoo was very enlightening for anyone who has ever felt sorry for the entrapped animals, feeling that the latter were not '"'free'"'.
When most people think of zoos, aquariums, and circuses many believe that the animals are thriving and living better than what they would be if still out in the wild, but is that really the truth? It is evident that the animals living in these captive places do not get the best treatment that many say they do, and that needs to change. Humans always want the best for their health and well-being, therefore it shouldn’t be any different for animals. Zoos, aquariums, and circuses are harmful to the animals living in them because the animals experience health issues, stress, unsuitable living conditions, and abusive treatment.
Animals are being harmed every day as a source of entertainment. Thousands of people take part in these terrible activities every day, and they don’t realize what is truly happening to these animals. When circus animals, zoo animals, and fighting dogs are out of sight from the public view, people don’t see all the awful things that are happening to them. We shouldn’t use our animals as a source of entertainment because they are being removed from their natural habitat, it involves extremely cruel training, and it reduces an animal's lifetime by a significant number of years.
I will review the inadequacies and poorly enforced laws that are currently meant to protect animals from human cruelty. Neglect and intentional harm constitute the two types of animal cruelty, as categorized by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Both types of animal cruelty are present in zoos in the U.S. as well as in other countries around the world. Drug abuse, lameness, insufficient care and long road trips are all indications of animal cruelty, requiring better laws and enforcement in these zoos. We may not consider unintentional harm as cruelty and only notice intentional harm such as animal abuse, but unintentional harm can be just as bad. The development of rights for our animals should be an effective
When thoughts about the circus come into play, animals and their awesome acts come to the brain, but do people really know what’s going on behind-the-scenes. Animals shouldn’t be used in the circus because they are abused while training, get torn away from mothers right after birth, which causes long-term disabilities, and are left in their cages for hours on end. Circuses have many other things to see, so there is no need to have animals if they're being tortured.
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
There are innocent animals being treated horrible everyday at circuses, marine parks, and zoos. Animals like elephants and tigers were not made to do things like jump through hoops and stand on their heads (circuses). Think about it this way, are humans supposed to walk
Unfortunately, there is a large history of animal abuse in zoos. The animals are abused physically, they have limited space in their cages, and often, animals in zoos are drugged so that they act a certain way. An example of physical abuse in zoos is the story of Anne the elephant with arthritis.
The circus is a time of fun and amazement for the audience, but not for elephants. Behind the curtains the elephants have to go through torture. As people, we are smart, and elephants are as smart as us too. But there was a case where a girl was trapped in a cage, in her house, by her dad and because of this at a certain age she couldn’t have a more developed brain. Nelson states “But Kenny [the elephant] was clearly sick. Elephants are highly intelligent creatures that develop at a similar rate as humans. In the wild, Kenny would still be at his mother's side, just beginning to wean” (Nelson par.2). Keeping animals in captivity is the same as keeping people out of society. Morally, keeping people from society is wrong, but for elephants it’s not. So why does this go on? People love entertainment and will give money for it, no matter what the cost is towards the elephants. Circus’ is all about the money and will do whatever it takes to get them a paycheck. Kenny went through a rough road and was mistreated, and no one cared about him. Kenny had to deal with getting whipped daily because that’s how the trainers would correct him. But that wasn’t as bad as seventy-two hour train ride. He was very sick and the veterinarian didn’t know until the end of Kenny’s life. It’s unknown on how Kenny died. He was found on the ground, bloody because during his shows he was bleeding and it
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...
Families strolling, children squealing with glee, and adults gazing with interest; A typical day at the zoo. Animal-lovers rush throughout zoos in search of their favorite feline or lizard, while children smack on popcorn as they tap on glass enclosures. For hundreds of years people have gone to zoos in seek of entertainment. The zoo provides a fun and educational time for families, but the joy of seeing adorable creatures blinds spectators from seeing the pain zoo animals live with. People do not realize the harm zoos do to animals. Zoos throughout the world should be banned due to their unethical practices; they cause animals mental distress, place them in unnatural habitats, and do little to conserve species in danger of extinction.
Most people have no idea how horribly animals are treated in the circus. Everyone loves the circus as a child, but they wouldn’t if they knew that the tigers and elephants were abused to get them to do the tricks that the kids love. Most circus animals spend 96% of their lives in cages or chained up. (PAWS. "Enjoy the Circus? The Animals Don't." Web Accessed March 14, 2015.) They are starved and abused to do things that are unnatural to their normal behavior. Tigers, like most animals, are instinctively afraid of fire, yet tigers and lions are forced to jump through hoops of fire and have been burned doing so. (Big Cat Rescue Corp. "Circus." Web Accessed March 14, 2015.)