Circus's are thought to be places where children can enjoy a spectacular show full of clowns, acrobats, and most of all, exotic animals. Even though circus's are meant to entertain the public, but behind the scenes is a different story. Circus's travel miles and miles between shows, confining animals in cages for each destination. Circus animals spend the majority of the day confined, about 1–9% of the day performing/training and the remaining time in exercise pens (2009). Wild animals are not meant to be domesticated and then trained to perform in shows because it is not natural for them. Inadequate diet and housing conditions, and the effects of repeated performances, can lead to significant health problems – circus animals travel frequently and the associated forced movement, human handling, noise, trailer movement and confinement are important stressors (2009).
The biggest and most fascinating animal in a circus are the elephants. Circus animals, especially elephants, may be kept chained (shackled individually or picketed in lines) continuously for 12–23 hours per day when not performing (2009). The utensils that trainers use to train wild elephants include whips, sticks, and bullhooks. There are instances where grown elephants are taken from the wild and “broken;” this is done by restraining the elephant with short chains to a small area as someone repeatedly beats the animal with a bullhook (2011). A bullhook is a wooden or metal stick that has a sharp steel hook and poker at one end. Trainers hit elephants either on the legs, ears, or trunk with a bullhook to train and control them. Every hit of the bullhook into an elephants skin is a painful blow.
The tricks that elephants are made to perform are not natural actions of wild elephants. They are not accustomed to naturally doing headstands, crawling, or twirling as they are required to do in the circus. Even though people come from far and wide to go to a circus to have fun and be entertained, it is not at all fun for the animals who were taken from their homelands and forced to entertain a crowd. These wild animals do not have a voice to say whether or not that they want to participate in a circus. It is up to people who want to save these tortured animals and to eliminate the animal aspect in a circus, otherwise, elephants and other wild animals alike will continue to be forced to perform for an audience's own entertainment.
References:
Animals in the circus: a lifetime of misery. (2003-2011). Born Free USA. Retrieved from: http://www.bornfreeusa.org/a1a_circus.php
Circus animal cruelty. (2011) Circus animal cruelty New edition. Retrieved from: www.circusanimalcruelty.com
Iossa, G., Soulsbury, CD and Harris,S. (2009) Are wild animals suited to a travelling circus life? Animal Welfare 18: 129-140. Retrieved from: http://www.savezooelephants.com/pdf/WILD%20ANIMALS%20IN%20CIRCUS.pdf
YouTube Video: Ringling beat animals: a PETA undercover investigation. Retrieved from:
YouTube Video: Ringling beat animals: a PETA undercover investigation. Retrieved from:
