Why We Protest The Circus
| |
Because animal acts like these are neither educational nor uplifting. Instead, they warp our perceptions of animals, desensitize us to the animals' real nature and needs, and in the process, diminish us as human beings. |
| |
Because all animals, non-human and human alike, share one basic right: the right to live their lives freely and in harmony with their own nature. Circuses deny animals that right. |
| |
Because the circus demeans animals, robbing them of their natural dignity. Consider the monkeys of the Ringling Brothers- Barnum & Bailey Circus, dressed as clowns and forced to dance, mug, and become the butt of silly, often vulgar jokes. Or look at the Asian elephants, so majestic and intelligent in nature, but forced by their trainers to wear feathers and sequins and walk on their hind legs. (Such tricks are not only demeaning, they're dangerous. Walking on the hind legs can cause a large, balloon-like swelling around the elephant's rectum area. This intense pressure often leads to painful rectal hernias that can cause death.) |
| |
Because, according to Pat Derby, a former animal trainer who worked in the television and motion picture industry for more than 20 years, cruel negative reinforcement is an integral part of animal training. During her career, she watched in horror as elephants were electroshocked in the ears, mouth, and anus, and bears had their noses broken and feet burned so that trainers could establish dominance. Other training devices include whips, muzzles, and tight collars. |
| |
Because circus animals travel long distances on a booking agent's grueling schedule, often confined for 20 hours a day in small cages. |
| |
Because circus animals never have a chance to satisfy their natural needs. Imagine tigers who can never hunt or run at full speed, elephants unable to take a mud bath, bears who can never hunt or roam in the woods, and chimpanzees who can never climb real trees. Instead, circus animals are made to perform painful, dangerous, abnormal stunts for our "amusement." |
| |
Because there are humane, entertaining, alternatives, like the critically-acclaimed Cirque de Soleil from Quebec, and the fabled Peking Acrobats, both of which reject animal acts in favor of more creative big-top entertainment. |
| |
Because animals can't speak for themselves. We must speak for them. |
| |
Elephants in the wild live in family groups and travel 20-50 miles per day on foot, stopping for mud baths along the way to keep their skin cool. |
Animal Cruelty and Circus Vargas
| |
Circus Vargas elephant lies chained to a truck. These animals spend 95% of their lives in chains or in trucks, moved from city to city for decades. |
| |
Circus Vargas has been out of compliance with government regulations pertaining to humane animal care at least 40 times over the past five years. |
| |
Animals in circuses perform from fear of punishment, which is why whips and/or bullhooks are used as "reminders" during certain performances. |
| |
Behind-the-scenes training sessions of animals are brutal with "make 'em or break 'em" methods employed which involve numerous physical and psychological abuses. |
| |
Animals are transported for hundreds of miles in unheated, un-airconditioned trailers through all weather conditions. In cold climates animals have frozen to death and they have succumbed to heat prostration in warm climates. |
| |
There are alternative circuses without animals, such as the critically acclaimed Cirque de Soleil from Quebec, and 12 others who reject exotic animals acts in favor of more creative big-top entertainment. |
 |
Ringling Bros.: An Inhumane Circus
Contrary to their PR rhetoric, Ringling Brothers has a long, sordid history of animal mistreatment. Consider:
| |
In January, 1998 Ringling (RB) forced Kenny, a baby elephant, to perform even though he was known to be ill. Kenny died hours later. Also in January, RB trainer Graham Chipperfield killed a caged tiger with 5 shotgun blasts after the animal earlier attacked another trainer. |
| |
RB told the LA Times that animals are "never trained with whips and beatings" even though they had been caught on videotape beating elephants and had even struck elephants in front of government inspectors. |
| |
RB has been out of compliance with minimal government standards for humane animal care well over 80 times during the past 7 years. This includes keeping dogs in boxes so small that "they could not stand, sit or lie down," and for a lack of exercise plans and veterinary records. Expired drugs have been found in RB's pharmacy trailer on at least 3 occasions. |
| |
Federal inspectors reported that RB has transported animals in railcars with "torn jagged metal... leaving sharp points and edges- (and) the floor of (the) rail was in severe disrepair." |
The Truth About Sterling & Reid and Other Circuses
| |
On April 3, 1998, Sterling & Reid had eight horses confiscated by the San Bernardino Humane Society for being severely underweight. The circus is now being charged with 8 counts of animal cruelty. |
| |
In August 1997, an elephant with King Royal Circus died from heat prostration in a raging hot trailer car. |
| |
When not performing, which is 90% of the time, elephants in circuses are chained by the leg and. rock/sway from frustration, anger and boredom--or are restrained via electrical fencing. |
| |
Circus animals perform from fear of punishment which is why whips and bullhooks are used as reminders during certain performances. |
| |
Behind the scenes, training sessions of animals in circuses are brutal with "make or break'em" methods employed which involve numerous physical and psychological abuses. |
| |
At the conclusion of their performing days, animals have been sold to game preserves to be hunted, zoos, menageries and even medical experimentation. |
There is no Justice, Just Us!
Please direct any questions or comments to adlla@animaldefense.com
Facts page <click here>
|
