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Animal mistreatment in circus
Animal mistreatment in circus
Animal mistreatment in circus
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When adults take their children to the circus, they expect their child to be mesmerized. What is there for a child not to be captivated by? Between the dazzling display of lights, the vast amount of animals, and the entertaining clowns all over the place, the circus is a great experience for any child. While the tigers are jumping through hoops of fire, the elephants are being prepared to go out into the center ring. The audience is going wild and the children are screaming in excitement. Before the elephants begin their march into the ring, the trainers, behind the scenes, take one last hit at them with their bull hooks. One elephant trumpets in pain as the hook gashes its skin. While all this is going on, a lion is imprisoned in a cage back stage with only enough room to turn around in. Does this sound like the fun, happy circus that we all are used to? Unfortunately, the answer is no.
Circuses around the world are severely mistreating their animals, out of the public eye, in regards of housing/environment, training methods, and performances. Circuses all over are getting away with this because the Animal Welfare Act is not strict enough on their guidelines for the circus industry. The famous Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is claiming to have done nothing abusive toward their animals even though they have been caught countless times on hidden video cameras. The Animal Welfare Act does not reach the standards that it should and needs to be changed to enforce stricter rules on training methods, housing, and unnatural behavior in performances.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is continually getting attention for the mistreatment of their animals. However, the funny thing is that they deny mistreating...
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...inimum requirements. “The law does not protect animals in circuses. It is up to the public to say, ‘Enough is enough’” (Newkirk). The Animal Welfare Act needs to be reformed to provide more adequate housing/environment, stricter regulations on training methods, and policies on performing unnatural behaviors. With a reform of the Animal Welfare Act, the whole circus industry would be forced to change their practices. It is about time that we give the main stars of the show a break.
Works Cited
“3 Important Reasons Not to Take Children to the Circus.” Circuses.com. PETA. Web. 10 Dec. 2009.
“Animal Circuses, Animal Suffering.”Captiveanimals.org. CAPS, June 2001. Web. 10 Dec. 2009.
Newkirk, Ingrid E. “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.” 27 July 2009. SIRS Knowledge Source. Web. 10 Dec. 2009.
“Ringling vs. Reality.” Circuses.com. PETA. Web. 10 Dec. 2009.
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
...s Human and Animal Lives." Americans for Medical Progress. (20 March 1999). "Animal Research Holds the Key to Saving Human Lives." Americans for Medical Progress. (20 March 1999). Ball, Matt and Anne Green, and Jack Norris. "Veganism as the Path to Animal Liberation." The Animal's Agenda Sep/Oct 1998: 44-45. Botting, Jack H. and Adrian R. Morrison. "Animal Research is Vital to Medicine." Scientific American. 187 February 1997: 83-85. D. E. "Skin Stand-Ins." Scientific American. September 1990: 168. James-Enger, Kelly. "Beyond Animal Testing." Vegetarian Times. October 1998: 254. "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals." (20 March 1999). "21 Things You May Not Know About the Animal Rights Movement." Americans for Medical Progress. (20 March 1999). U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Animal Welfare Report Fiscal Year 1997.
Clemmitt, Marcia. "Animal Rights." CQ Researcher by CQ Press. N.p., 10 Jan. 2010. Web. 27
Singer P. Animal Liberation. A New Ethics for our Treatment of Animals. Avon Books. New York, 1975.
Peta. "Why Animal Rights?" People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. .
The ugly truth is that animals are dying at the hands of their owners everyday, some in very violent ways that can be avoidable given the right solution. Slaughterhouses, puppy mills, dog fighting, and so on, are just a few examples of how animals are being treated badly by people. Animal cruelty is a form of violence which, un...
Washington D.C.: Acropolis Books, 1978. Call Number: HV4711O5. Regan, Tom, and Peter Singer, eds. Animal Rights and Human Obligations.
"Enjoy the Circus? The Animals Don't." PAWS - People Helping Animals. PAWS, 2014. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
Attention getter: Lion, tigers, and bears, oh my! When the circus comes rolling into town, many people are excited to go and that is all that is talked about; about the clowns, the trapeze artists, the ring leader, the elephants and all the other marvelous wonders of the circus. But would you all still be excited to go if you knew the truth about the circus and the animal trainers of how they treat the animals? Because in reality, for our spirits to raise at the circus, they break the spirits of all the animals, especially the elephants.
Lin, Doris. "Emaciated Asian Elephant Started Life at Busch Gardens." N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2015.
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..
Identifying the Problem: The problem to identify at hand is obvious; it’s the mistreatment of animals being used in the entertainment industry. Animals are ripped away from their natural habitats or bred in captivity to provide us humans with sources of entertainment. The article “Ten Fast Facts About Animals In Entertainment” explains that the majority of captivity-bred animals will not be returned to the wild. In fact, when a facility breeds too many animals, they are sometimes sold to laboratories, traveling shows, canned hunting facilities, or to private individuals (“Ten Fast Facts”). Private individuals, who inquire about wild animals, almost always lack the proper caregiving skills, and this leads to animals being neglected.
PETA 2012, Circuses; Three Rings of Abuse, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Norfolk, VA.
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.
Notwithstanding the joy that animals performing acts, such as riding bicycles, can bring to a person, circuses that use animals should no longer exist. It is 2017 and the rights of animals should be just as important as human rights. Therefore, to help animals avoid servitude, animal-free circuses must gain more popularity and eventually overshadow the circuses that do use, or exploit