One of my first animal rights realizations occurred when
I was at the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus. An elephant happened
to walk close by to where we were sitting. I looked into her eyes and
saw a sadness so terrible, I realized right then and there that I should
not have been patronizing this circus. Even more important, the animals
should not have been there either.
I immediately began researching the circus industry. I
wanted to know if things were really as bad as the elephant's eyes were
telling me that day in the arena. To my dismay, her eyes were right. I
was hearing her plea for help loud and clear. Not only are circus
animals continuously abused and plagued with diseases, they are deprived
of adequate shelter, food, water, veterinary care, and everything that
is natural to them. They are prisoners, captives who have committed no
crime whatsoever, receiving a punishment that we would never allow to be
inflicted upon even our most hardened criminals. It is slavery in its
most modern form and it is time for it to stop!
The circus industry would love to have you believe that
their animals, or rather prisoners, are trained with love and positive
reinforcement. The truth of the matter is, an animal who is wild by
nature is never going to submit to tenderness from a human, especially
when forced to commit acts that are uncomfortable and often times
painful. The only way to break their free spirits is through
intimidation and the only way for the trainer to succeed is through
physical and mental pain. The key is dominance and this is achieved by
beating the animals with clubs, bull hooks, whips and other objects.
Tight collars, muzzles, and electric prods are additional elements often
found in the trainers' handbag. In addition to the beatings, food
deprivation, drugging, and surgical removal or impairment of claws and
teeth are other techniques. The fact of the matter is the Animal Welfare
Act (AWA) does not prohibit any specific form of training. In the words
of Pat Derby, former animal trainer, "After 25 years of observing and
documenting circuses, I know there are no kind animal trainers."
According to Henry Ringling North, in his book "The
Circus Kings," the large felines are "chained to their pedestals, and
ropes are put around their necks to choke them down. They work from
fear." Bears' noses are often broken during training and their paws
burned in order to force them to stand on two legs. In an interview with
the Elephant Alliance, a former employee of Ringling Bros. reported on
Ringling's treatment of one animal: "She was a sweet little innocent
brown bear who never hurt anyone, but sometimes she had trouble
balancing on the high wire. She was then beaten with long metal rods
until she was screaming and bloody. She became so neurotic that she
would beat her head against her small cage. She finally died." A Hudson
News reporter who traveled with Ringling reported on the training of one
chimpanzee: "Repeatedly, he was struck with a sturdy club. The thumps
could be heard outside the arena building, and the screams further than
that."
Elephants, because of their enormous size and power,
endure perhaps the most horrendous treatment. Chains, bull hooks, and
fear are common elements in the training methods forced upon captive
circus elephants. Adolescent elephants who were once wild are broken by
forcing them to their knees, chaining them by all four legs so they
cannot move, and beating them on a daily basis for as long as a month.
The same treatment is granted adult elephants, but the industry ensures
that this happens outside of your view. The beatings committed against
these magnificent creatures are usually performed with bull hooks. Clubs
with a sharp metal hook on the end, these weapons are used to tear and
scar the elephants' most sensitive areas. In the past, one elephant lost
her eye to a bull hook. The Humane Society located bull hook sores on
the genital areas of multiple circus elephants. A horrendous thought is
the fact that most elephant handlers are actually ex-carnival employees
with no experience with animals whatsoever. They've simply been handed a
weapon and told to beat the animal to submission. Sylvia K. Sikes, in
"The Natural History of the African Elephant," tells us, "It is unusual
to see tears running from the eyes of wild elephants, although it is
common in captive specimens."
It is impossible to ignore the fact that animals used in
circuses do not belong there. They are large, wild animals who are meant
to roam free. Even if their lives were surrounded with love and
compassion, they are still living in a miserable existence. For
instance, during the traveling season, when they are not performing,
(which is approximately 98 percent of the time) the animals are housed
in small, desolate cages where they sleep behind bars on cold, concrete
floors. This is a sad reality for animals who are quite large and
naturally active. The AWA simply orders that the animals have adequate
room to turn around and stand up. As a result, large felines often live
and travel in cages only 4x6x5 feet. Many elephants spend their entire
lives in chains. The infamous "Dumbo" wore "martingales," chains
connected from his tusks to his feet, for 20 years.
The trucks and railway cars in which the animals retire
to and travel in the 98 percent of the time they are not performing are
more often than not lacking in heat and/or air conditioning. Most
animals cannot adequately adjust to the climate changes and since
veterinarians are not always present on site, numerous animals have been
left to suffer and die due to exposure to extreme temperatures, lack of
adequate food and water, and inefficient formal medical attention.
There is no true "off-season" for circus animals, since
the majority of performing animals are leased from dealers. When one
circus is finished with them, they are simply shipped off to another,
following seasonal contracts. This creates another scary thought,
considering that not only are these animals being used and abused almost
daily, there is no supervision on the part of the true "owners." The
lessors, who have no attachments to these animals what so ever, are free
to do with them as they wish! Do not assume that when the animals are
back "home" with their "owners" that the situation is any better. They
are usually housed in the same conditions as when they are performing
(in traveling cars, barn stalls, and even trucks). In addition, they are
still being "trained," which means they are being beaten and tortured
each day, in order to ensure that they are well prepared for their next
circus venture.
These deplorable, off-season quarters often become
permanent retirement homes for those animals who have been deemed no
longer useful to the circus. Those retired animals who are not placed in
the winter homes are either sold to other circuses, zoos, roadside
attractions, private individuals, game farms, or research laboratories.
It is obvious that, even once their "careers" are over, these animals do
not have much hope for a happy, fulfilling life. Their lives end in much
the same conditions they were forced to previously live in: confinement,
domination, pain, and suffering.
The constant confinement plagued upon these animals, day
after day, creates dangerous physical and psychological problems for
performing animals. The Born Free Foundation conducted a study in which
they found that confined elephants spend 22 percent of their time in
atypical, behavior including head bobbing and swaying. They also found
that imprisoned bears spend as much as 30 percent of their time pacing.
Self-mutilation is another common reaction to the stress, loneliness,
and boredom caused by the deprivation of family and any sense of freedom
as their lives are completely dominated by their handlers.
Clearly, the magnificent creatures of the circus,
paraded around, humiliated, and beaten day after day, do not deserve to
live in this miserable existence. If what you have just read is not
enough to turn your heart against the circus, please continue to read as
Animal Rights Online presents you with further reason to fight the
circus.
Go on to Don't Put
Your Child on Someone Who's Wild
Return to 5 December 1999 Issue
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