Did you remember those days when you were so excited to hear there was a circus stopping by your town? Did you impatiently wait for the animals to come up in circus and to amaze you with those performances? If yes was your answer, you were definitely not alone. There were 330 other people out of 550 respondents who enjoyed the animal performances best, as to compare with human ones.
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.
Most circuses travel around the world, and so do the animals. They even travel constantly, being accumulated to 50 weeks annually. On other words, 96% of the animals’ lifetimes are spent on travelling, mostly in chained and caged conditions. However, as the initial purpose of the cage is mainly for travelling purposes and not for the sake of animals, it is usually as big as 4 feet by 5 feet by 6 feet. This cage size is incomparable with the wildlife, where animals may have 200,000 feet cubic to reside in. For instance, tigers and lions may be caged over 90% of their travelling time, forced to do nearly all things inside the tiny cage; eat, drink, sleep, and even urinate.
Moreover, the animals are being chained. Elephants, 60% of the time, are chained with one front leg and one back leg. Although the chain is usually meant to be long enough, it restricts them to move other than taking one or two step and lying down. This contradicts on the fact that elephants enjoy moving around, especially in a g...
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...essive trainings and fear-motivated in order to do so. Instead, animal natural behavior should actually be the activities of eating, sleeping, and raising their children. These can then be achieved through watching Animal Planet or Discovery Channel, which shows present animals documentaries.
Although there has been Animal Welfare Act regulated to protect the rights of animals in circus, it seems insufficient to ensure that all animals are being properly treated. Furthermore, no supervision on how the trainings conducted, which is one of the major mistreatment in the circus. Putting their sufferings and harsh trainings into consideration, animals should be banned out of circus. It is essential to know that we are unable to do it alone, but together, just like more than 30 countries in the world have done. Animals are not ours to begin with, and they will never be.
the urge to display eccentric habits through physcological suffering is advocated within their captive conditions. As Dunlap and Kellert explain, “Despite improvments in exhibit design, many animals remain confined in dirty,...
Throughout the past few decades, animals have been mistreated and in some cases killed in live entertainment facilities. (APNM 2006) Organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (“PETA”) and other animal right protecting organizations, try to protect and restore basic rights to the animals. Circuses, aquariums, and zoos have flaws in their systems, which allow for the animals to be mistreated. (PETA 2009) Animals should not be forced to do any tricks, stunts, or any harmful or life-shortening forms of entertainment nor be housed in inappropriate surroundings merely for the amusement of humans.
Zoos have been with us throughout our history, and can provide a good barometer of public beliefs and values at any given time. Therefore it seems necessary to explore whether in today’s society contemporary zoos are a means of educating and conserving or still seek to control and exhibit animal others for human benefit. In order to make this assessment there are a number of contributing factors. Firstly it is important to establish context by considering the history of zoos and looking at the changes from the early menageries to contemporary zoos who strive to be institutions of refuge for animals facing twenty-first century global challenges. This links into how the physical space of zoos has changed over time and whether these advancements have made any crucial difference to the welfare of animals. Following this conservation, education and scientific research will be explored in detail in order to assess whether they provide good enough motives for keeping animals in captivity. I will seek to argue that although attempts have been made to point zoos in the direction of conservation and education, in my opinion the concepts of dominance and human superiority are still at the core of modern zoos.
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...
One person might just think that animals can be safely used for entertainment purposes. If the animals are well treated then the value for the sport and entertainment can be received and stay positive from spectators. Some like to say what is done to these animals is what they were born to do. They were put on this Earth for this purpose. These animals trainers love them and are very passionate about taking care of them. As humans, we were given mastery control over animals, which makes them ours to use and do whatever with. Animals have their right to participate in sports just like we do. S...
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...
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...
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.
Everyday, everywhere around the world, animals are being held captive. Captivity deprives animals of the life that they deserve and could have carried out in the wild peacefully. Today, zoos, aquariums, and circuses are very popular places of interest due to the entertainment offered for families and especially children. Zoos, aquariums, and circuses put on entertaining shows to show off their talented, cute, and interesting animals. Although, what most people do not realize is the fact that these animals are put under a tremendous amount of stress and usually suffer from depression, boredom, illnesses, or other terrible factors.
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.
Research and testing have become more prominent and a strong concern to the public on the treatment of animals. Many activists today are trying to change the view people see toward the animal they have as a companion. Ethical issues are the many concerns about animals and the question always asked is,”who has the right to control the animal?”. For animal welfare and the causes of animal abuse, new research has been created. Since animal abuse is fairly a new subject, new research is constantly being brought up.
Polar bears, for example, are given about 10 metres of walking space, whereas in their Arctic home they roam for many hundreds of kilometres. Similarly, primates, big cats and birds are often confined to cages where they lack exercise and stimulation. Many animals develop unnatural habits, such as pacing back and forth or swaying from side to side. Supporters of zoos argue that they help to conserve endangered species, but in fact they are not very good at this. Even the world famous panda breeding programme has been very costly and unsuccessful.
Animals are beautiful exquisite creatures that should be loved and cared for. They bring laughter and companionship to millions of people around the world. The more people that are aware of animal cruelty the faster making a change in today’s society can be addressed, sparing the lives of animals everywhere. For those people who are still in the dark about animal cruelty “steps should be taken to promote disclosure so as to fortify market process and to promote democratic discussion of the treatment of animals” to help those people achieve a better understanding of the situation (Leslie J). Animal cruelty must be stopped weather it is in factories or cages, beauty or just for sport treating animals the way they are getting treated today must be put to an end. As Frey the author of “Animals Rights” said “what’s fundamentally wrong with the way animals are treated isn’t the details that vary from case to case it’s the whole system itself” (Frey
in Russia in 1793 at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. By the early 19th
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.