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Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, step right up and witness the amazing feats presented before your very eyes! Grab a bag of peanuts, a stick of cotton candy and find your seats, because youre going to need them. Since animals do not usually stand on their heads, ride unicycles, or wear glitzy bow-ties, circus workers take it upon themselves to force the animals into submission by utilizing inhumane methods. Circus animals are made to live in substandard conditions where they have little access to food, water, and virtually no space to run and play. A circus is the epitome of innocence, or is it?
Because behind the circus merry exterior lies a world of cruelty where animals ranging from the exotic to domestic are being needlessly exploited and abused by their trainers. The circus industry is selective in the nature of information it releases to the public, thereby maintaining its facade of innocence. Between May of 1993 and August of 2001 there have been over fifty accounts of animal abuse occurring in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. During this time, seventeen elephants died or were euthanized. Out of those seventeen, only five deaths were announced to the general public (PETA, Ringling Bros.
and Barnum & Bailey Circus Fact Sheet, np). This is the same public who spends thousands of dollars each year to attend and keep shows like this in business. Yet the circus is reluctant in divulging any information regarding the very things these people pay money to see. Perhaps the circus believes these deaths are private matters, not important enough to mention. It is more likely though, to assume that it fears what may happen if the news of these deaths were to spread further.
There would undoubtedly be a drop in attendance, which would result in a drop in revenue. If not enough money is brought into the circus, it has no choice but to close. Instead of spending money to maintain the animals well-being the cash is used to keep the circus afloat and on the road. After being sued for animal abuse in July of 2000, Catherine Ort-Mabry, a spokeswoman from Ringling stated, The show provides its animals with the highest standards of care. (ABP news, Circus Sued for Animal Abuse. np) Her statement is a laughable fallacy when examining the high mortality rate in the elephants in circuses is due to captivity induced foot problems and arthritis.
In a string of false statements, her comment was just another lie meant to mislead potential audience members into believing the circus is a haven for animals, where they are treated with compassion and respect. The public is deceived into believing they are viewing a harmless show, when in reality they are supporting a stunning display of animal torture. The plight of circus animals begins in transportation. Exotic cats such as tigers are housed in small crates. These crates are comparable to the carriers a person would put their domestic cat in, the only difference being the tiger crates are proportionally smaller.
According to The World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia, Mac OS X 2002 Edition, Most adult tigers weigh between 420 and 300 pounds. They are eight to nine feet long, including a three foot tail... While on tour these large animals are kept in holding pens where they can barely turn around, let alone run or play. Often times these carriers are badly ventilated and while the circus is on the road, big cats, elephants and other creatures are left to lie for hours in their cages with little water and next to no stimulation until they are forced to perform again. The World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia also states, Most [circuses] travel about seven months, while the railroad circuses stay on tour almost eleven...
Traveling for close to a year in tiny holding pens is nothing short of a tragedy for these beasts considering they are meant to run, swim, and hunt in their natural habitat. Without some sort of physical stimulation, these animals will get bored and depressed. Depression leads to sickness, which lead to death. In some cases animals arent even able to breathe, let alone move. An inspector from the USDA noted that, the transport trailer compartment was not large enough for all the goats and sheep, that the trailer needed more ventilation... (ASPCA, ASPCA: USDA Documents Provide Proof of Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus Abuse of Elephants.
np) Just thinking about the conditions inside a pen is sickening. Consider being on the road for twelve hours nonstop, there are too many animals in each holding area so after they defecate and end up trampling all over their own feces. This can lead to innumerable amounts of diseases, all of which could be picked up by the animals and passed on to humans in a circus Petting Zoo. The weather conditions on the road pose a problem for many of the animals as well. It is unrealistic to assume that the circuses would spend money to create holding carts custom made for each type of animal being featured in their shows, especially considering the animals they house are so diverse. For instance, assume a circus is traveling through Montana in January.
A yak, who thrives in cold dry climates, is content while a zebra may be shivering in the cold. This constant change causes stress in the animals lives making them act unpredictable and restless. Following a the show must go on mentality, some circuses may not stop even to allow animals to exercise for fear they may show up late for a gig. Transporting animals on a consistent basis is unhealthy and causes undue stress for them.
If being carted around 330 days of the year wasnt bad enough, animals in the circus are also coerced into performing through various forms of abuse. The most blatant abuse is through the use of so-called Tools of the Trade. These tools...
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Research essay sample on Animal Abuse World Book
