Top 10 Tuesday: Things to Tell Your Friends About Why They Should Skip the Circus

Posted on 7 September 2010 at 4:17PM by Ashley Fruno

Circuses that still use animals would quickly lose their appeal if the details about how they treat their animals became widely known. Animal circuses are anything but wholesome family entertainment. Here are just some of the reasons to steer clear of animal circuses:

1. It’s just cruel.

The instruments that are often used to “train” animals include whips, tight collars, muzzles, and electric prods.

2. There’s no accountability.

Staff caring for animals in circuses may have little experience or formal training, increasing the potential for improper handling.

3. There’s no oversight.

Regulators are rarely present to ensure that animals are treated humanely during training sessions, and most countries have few laws to protect animals used for circus entertainment.

4. It’s unnatural and bizarre.

In nature, elephants don’t stand on their heads, walk trunk-to-tail, skip, crawl, or twirl. Tigers don’t hop on their hind legs or roll over in unison. Bears do not ride motorcycles.

5. It’s about domination.

Trainers use bullhooks to “control” elephants and beat them into submission. Trainers hit elephants behind their knees and ears, often leaving their sensitive skin ripped and bleeding.

6. It’s slavery.

Animals used in circuses, most of whom are quite large and naturally active, are forced to spend most of their lives chained up inside boxcars, cages, or transport trailers. They rarely get to be in the sunshine or take a breath of fresh air.

7. It teaches kids the wrong lesson.

Circuses teach children that it’s acceptable to take animals from their natural habitat and exploit them for our own entertainment.

8. It’s deadly.

Elephants are dying decades short of their natural life spans from debilitating diseases related to captivity, including from a highly contagious human strain of tuberculosis that is infecting and killing captive elephants. Officials warn that the disease’s transmission between humans and elephants could have devastating consequences.

9. It’s supposed to be fun, not frightening!

The number of circuses that use only willing human performers instead of battered, dispirited animals has exploded in the past decade, giving the public countless alternatives to animal circuses.