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 .
Although it’s entertaining to watch these animals perform, most people don’t take the time to think about the issues that the companies that are involved in this type of entertainment encounter. The frequently asked questions of how
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
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
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.
Preview: So today, I would like to attempt to persuade you that circuses should stop using animals, with a ...
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 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”).
Currently there are three main legislations affecting and protecting the welfare of wild animals in travelling circuses, The Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012, the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and the performing Animals (regulation) Act 1925, (DEFRA,2013; Rees,2013). The legislations in place recognise that both wild a...
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
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.
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 an animal is training for the entertainment of the people at the circus many things happening are unethical and inhumane. Bullhooks are one of the many things used to abuse animals, these horrible tools are used for poking the elephants behind the ears or ankles. Instead of poking the elephants with the bullhooks to train, show the elephants how to do the
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.
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.
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