Circuses - BornFree

Animals in Circuses

Using animals in circuses is an unnecessary and inhumane practice that’s harmful to both the animals and the public. Unlike the human performers who choose to work in circuses, exotic animals are forced to take part in the show. They are involuntary actors in a degrading, unnatural spectacle. While many people associate the circus with “safe, wholesome, family fun,” the truth is much darker. Government inspection reports reveal ongoing mistreatment of animals in circuses, as well as failures to provide the basic minimal standards of care required by law. Animals used in circuses have been injured and killed, and have injured and killed humans. There are hundreds of wild animals currently housed in circuses in the United States. Globally, there are thousands.

By Tequask [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons.

What’s Wrong with the Circus?

Cruel “training” techniques

Animals in circuses are forced to perform frightening, unnatural, and even painful tricks, night after night. Circus representatives often claim that only “positive reinforcement” is used in handling animals – and this may indeed be the style of interaction that audiences see in the ring and in carefully-controlled public tours – but it is standard circus industry practice to use bullhooks, a steel rod resembling a sharpened fireplace poker that is used to prod, hook, and strike elephants, to dominate and control them through fear, pain, and injury. Using varying amounts of pressure, the sharp tip and hook are pushed into sensitive spots on an elephant’s body, while the handle is used as a club to strike areas where little tissue separates skin and bone.

“I was shocked, anew, with the degradation the animals suffer, and the pleasure the trainers take in the domination… these ridiculous acts. I wonder how much longer these archaic sideshows can last. The audience barely clapped during the animal performances, as the men slapped animals on the face with sticks and snapped the whip to make them move. The lions, overweight from a life immobile in small cages, ‘perform’ grudgingly…”

NJ State Senator Raymond Lesniak referring to bill to ban exotic animals from circuses, carnivals, and fairs.

Months of travel

Animals in circuses spend about 11 months of the year traveling. For thousands of hours, over long distances, they may be chained while not performing, transported in vehicles that lack climate control, and forced to stand or lie in their own waste.

Social isolation and cramped conditions.

In the wild, elephants live in large, sociable herds and walk up to 30 miles every day. Most other wild animals found in circus settings, including lions and tigers, are also constantly on the move in their native habitats. Depriving these animals of the freedom to roam, interact naturally with members of their species, and engage in other instinctual behaviors is inherently cruel.

By chensiyuan (chensiyuan) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Did you know?

In the wild…
elephants walk up to 30 miles per day – this is more than a circus elephant will walk in its entire life.

In the circus...
animals that normally live in herds or family groups, including lions, tigers, zebras, and primates, are forced to live alone.

Circus elephants are…
commonly trained using a bullhook, a steel rod that is used to prod, hook, and strike elephants, to dominate and control them through fear, pain, and injury.

Animals in circuses pose threats to public safety and health.

Aggression and stress caused by unnatural confinement.

Animals in circuses are forced into lives far different from the ones nature intended. The conflict between their instincts and the harsh realities of captivity – as well as training methods that utilize violence, fear, and intimidation – cause wild animals tremendous amounts of stress. It is little wonder that some animals literally are driven mad and rebel in rampages that injure and kill people.

Animals, seeking freedom and space, escape from their enclosures.

The conditions of animals’ lives in circuses stifle their natural instincts and cause extreme stress. There have been numerous instances of animals, seeking freedom and space, escaping their enclosures in circuses and freely roaming outside of the property where they are performing. These are wild animals brought by the circuses into unnatural proximity to human communities where they could pose a potential danger to people.

Animals could carry disease.

Elephants in the circus may carry tuberculosis (TB) and, because the circus brings these animals into unnatural proximity to humans, humans could become infected. Public records show that many circuses have a history of tuberculosis in their elephants and that many have used TB-positive elephants in public performances.

Photo by Alex Krasavtsev (https://flic.kr/p/pcNphp) via: freeforcommercialuse.org

Circuses are not educational and do not aid wildlife conservation.

Not education.

Circuses are entertainment, not education. Watching wild animals perform unnatural tricks does not teach children respect or appreciation for animals. Instead, circuses teach children that it is acceptable to exploit and mistreat animals for amusement.

Not conservation.

Endangered animals born in circus “conservation” programs have never been released into the wild; most are slated to become “replacement” performers. Conservation is used as a cover: Captive breeding programs do nothing to address the real threats endangered animals face in the wild, such as poaching, trophy hunting, loss of habitat, and loss of prey, and the captive-bred animals were never meant to be released into the wild.

Laws do not adequately regulate circuses.

The federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) was adopted in 1969 to ensure the humane care and treatment of warm-blooded animals bred for commercial sale, used in research, transported commercially, or exhibited to the public. Individuals or entities licensed under the AWA must provide their animals with certain standards of care and treatment in the areas of housing, handling, sanitation, nutrition, water, veterinary care, and protection from extreme weather and temperatures. These standards, however, are minimal and do not adequately protect exhibited animals from mistreatment, neglect, improper handling and training, and other problems associated with the circus.

Enforcement of welfare standards is also a problem. Through its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the agency with the authority to enforce the law. As of January 2018, under APHIS, 112 inspectors are responsible for monitoring conditions at approximately 8,272 facilities – 2,620 of which are licensed exhibitors displaying exotic animals to the public. Most circuses, therefore, are subject only to infrequent inspections.

By Usien [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons.

Exotic Animals Incidents Database

Wild animals belong in the wild — not in the confinement of circuses, zoos, aquaria, backyards, or homes. In captivity, wild animals are not able to perform their natural behaviors and many lash out in frustration from psychological and physical deprivation. This situation is dangerous for animals and humans alike. Search our interactive database of attacks on humans, attacks on other animals, and escapes by exotic animals in the U.S.