Many people love taking their kids to the circus to be entertained by the performance of the animals and people. However, the people do not realize how badly these animals are treated. They are blinded by how awesome the animals can perform tricks and listen to commands. All animals should be banned from performing in the circus because they are being mistreated by the people who are supposed to love and care for them. Circus animals are treated with no love or respect. Theses mammals spend ninety six percent of their lives behind bars (Greer). The average circus is on the road for forty-eight weeks out of the year, and during that time the poor animals are kept in tiny confined cages with only enough room to stand and turn around (Greer). …show more content…
and shocked endangered Asian elephants. Frisco advised other elephant trainers to “beat them with a bull-hook as hard as they could and sink the sharp metal end into the animals’ flesh and twist it until they scream in pain.” An elephant named Flora had been “forced to perform in a circus and was later moved to the Miami Zoo, attacked and severely injured a zookeeper in from of visitors.” This shows that imprisoned animals of high intelligence can sometimes crack under the pressure of perpetual abuse. In their natural habitat they are free to socialize, play, exercise, forage and roam, and aren’t under pressure. After a while of abuse and performances, animals start to show signs of mental anguish which include a plethora of stereotypical behaviors, such as swaying, pacing, bar-biting, and self-mutilating. Very many animals try to escape from the circus because they cannot handle the day in and day out abuse. There have been countless numbers of incidents involving animals attacks and escapes from circuses, often resulting in property damage, injuries, and death of humans and
Keeping animals locked in cages, bored and cramped up in such a small space is an awful sight to show the children. It creates an image in the little minds of children that animals are to be treated like they don’t matter. They say Zoos are a place where children can learn about the wild, exotic animals, but in reality it doesn't teach them anything only that they are meant to be caged up, which is wrong. Also, it is really painful to see the animals bored and lonely, so why should people keep letting them do this to these beautiful creatures. Animal captivity for entertainment should end to let them go to their rightful home.
The morality of using animals for the purpose of human entertainment has long since been a divisive, polarising issue, and one to which there is no clearly defined solution. Debates on this issue commonly question the ethical responsibilities humans have to animals, and, subsequently, whether or not animals deserve to be afforded the same ethical treatment as humans. This is perhaps most evident in the extensive, subjective and widespread debate regarding the ethical acceptability of utilising circus animals for human entertainment. Many would argue that the entertainment benefits gained by humans outweigh the detrimental effects on the animals. However, conversely, it has been proposed that circuses knowingly harm these animals both physically and psychologically. This essay will argue that owning and training circus animals to perform for human entertainment is a blatantly unacceptable practice from an ethical perspective, and, hence, that humans have an obligation to appropriately uphold the ethical rights of circus animals. In doing so, three main points will be argued. Firstly, investigations will be undertaken to gauge the quality of life of circus animals. More specifically, the treatment and training methods of circus animals will be examined to demonstrate that these practices are both unnecessary and cause physical suffering to the animals. Secondly, legislation pertaining to the treatment of circus animals will be explored. Subsequently, human attitudes and behaviours towards circus animals will be investigated, while social ignorance and apathy towards the treatment of circus animals will be discussed, to display that these laws do not adequately protect circus animals. Finally, the sentience of animals will be inve...
Circuses spend an average of 48 weeks a year traveling and performing for audiences. Circus animals spend approximately 95% of their lives caged or chained. Elephants in the Ringling Bros. circus, a division of Feld Entertainment, for instance, often spend up to 100 hours straight in chains, as revealed by Ringling’s own documents (Circuses). Their big cats are crammed into crates, hardly able to move, for extended periods of time. Though Ringling boasts that their train cars are specially designed for the needs of their animals, the records show otherwise. In 2004, a you...
“Animal Entertainment” refers to any animals used to act, perform, or fight for the enjoyment of humans. zoos, circuses, and bullfighting are all examples of animals used for entertainment. While many applaud these firms for putting on a spectacular show, many others argue that the animals are treated unfair. All of these animals are taken out of their natural environment and forced to perform acts not typically in their behavioral range. If one pays close attention at the circus, for example, it is visible how these animals are treated. Trainers threaten tigers with a whip and often hit elephants with metal on their legs. These techniques are inhumane and best explain why animals should not be used for entertainment. The use of animals for entertainment is a form of animal abuse because of the way the
Trainers in the circuses beat the animals in order to do certain tricks. PETA states that trainers use tight collars, whips, beatings, and torture as a daily occurrence for circus animals. Elephants are hit with bullhooks on a daily basis on the skin around the eyes, under their chin, inside their mouth, and behind their knees and ears. Bears’ noses are broken and their paws are burned to teach them how to walk on her hind legs. In order to make chimpanzees manageable, trainers knock their teeth out with a hammer. An LCA investigator recorded large amounts of beatings, using baseball bats, pitchforks, and electric prods at Carson & Barnes Circus. “Animal rights, at its heart, is the most unextreme philosophy I can imagine. It is about nonviolence. It is about compassion. It is about not harming and not causing suffering and not killing when we don’t have to. That’s it. It is really, truly that simple.” – Stephanie Ernst
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..
When bred in captivity, animals are oblivious to their natural habitats and how to socially interact with their species. 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 they are used for mostly educational purposes and preserving various species, but the reality is that they fall short on both (“Animals Used”).
In accordance with the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012, a travelling circus is defined as ‘a circus in which travels from place to place for the purpose of giving performances, displays or exhibitions’ and ‘a circus as part of which wild animals are kept or introduced (whether for the purpose of performance, display or otherwise).
This essay proposes to investigate the ethics of training, and subsequently utilising, circus animals for the purpose of human entertainment. Therefore, the essay will respond to the question “what moral or ethical obligations do humans have in respect of other animals? How can these obligations be filled?” It should be noted that a distinction is made between morals, which are personal standards of behaviour – and ethics – which are moral principles that govern societal behaviour. This essay will focus on ethical obligations. Specifically, the treatment and training methods of circus animals will be researched to ascertain what, if any, physical or psychological discomfort results for the animals. More precisely, investigations will be undertaken to gauge circus animals’ quality of life, and thus arguments that circus animals both enjoy and loathe this treatment will be explored. Additionally, specific cases of cruelty to circus animals, together with various legislation that either allows or prohibits such behaviours, will be examined.
And this isn’t the only time a captive animal has turned on its trainer. Working with a predator that kills even when it’s not hunting is taking a risk lions can be trained but they cannot be tamed. in 2010 two lions turned on their trainer Oleksie Pinko during a show in the Ukraine, Pinko walked away with only minor injuries. No matter how long you work with exotic animals they will always be unpredictable and dangerous, Roy Horn of the Siegfried and Roy duo worked with tigers for most of his life, but however in 2003 Roy was attacked by a seven year old white tiger named Montecore. In 2008, a liger at Safari's Animal Sanctuary in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma killed a volunteer, thirty-two year old Peter Getz.
Smith, RaeLeann. "Circus Animals: Abused and Dangerous." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Nov. 2007. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
Animals should not be held captive in zoos because it is inhumane and unfair to the animals. There are so many records of terrible things that have happened to animals in zoos over the past few centuries, the go under the radar too often. Too few people even know about these animal care atrocities, and therefore the New York Times decided to bring light upon this situation. The Times did a first-of-its-kind analysis of 390 elephant fatalities at accredited U.S. zoos over the past 50 years (Berens 3). It found that most of the elephants died from injury or disease linked to conditions of their captivity, from chronic foot problems caused by standing on hard surfaces to musculoskeletal disorders from inactivity caused by being penned or chained for days and weeks at a time.
Circus animals are still wild animals, captive born or not, they still retain the needs to roam freely and socialize. They also never lose instinct to defend themselves. America, a country that has deemed animal cruelty a crime, endangered species protected and partakes in extreme publ...
Some aspects of Animal abuse are completely avoidable, the cruelty brings no scientific knowledge, food, or testing. In the entertainment industry “wild and exotic animals are trained through the use of intimidation and physical abuse. Former circus employees have reported seeing animals beaten, whipped, poked with sharp objects and even burned to force them to learn their routines!”(dosomething) Cruelty for entertainment is not a fair trade by any means.
They are pressured into completing harmful acts, as well as maneuvering their bodies in ways that are anomalous. Acts such as these tend to cause distress in the circus animals. Instead of supporting circuses that use animals in their shows, people should support animal-free circuses. Animal-free circuses feature spectacular shows without harming any animals.