F E AT U R E
Cruelty Under the Big Top and urinate – all in the same place.
Bears, elephants, tigers and other animals do not
voluntarily ride bicycles, stand on their heads,
balance on balls or jump through rings of fire. They
don’t perform these and other difficult tricks
because they want to. They perform them because
they are afraid of what will happen if they don’t. Frustrated by years of beatings, bullhooks and
shackles, some elephants snap. And when an
elephant rebels against a trainer’s physical
dominance, trainers cannot protect
themselves, let alone the public. In 1994, an
elephant named Tyke killed her trainer and injured
12 spectators before being gunned down while
running terrified through downtown Honolulu, she
was shot almost 100 times. In 1992, Officer Blayne
Doyle was forced to shoot and kill Janet, an
elephant who charged out of the Great American
Circus arena in Palm Bay,
For animals in circuses, there is no such thing as
“positive reinforcement,” only varying degrees of
punishment and deprivation. To force them to
perform these meaningless and physically
uncomfortable tricks, trainers use whips, tight collars,
muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks (sharp metal rods
that resemble fireplace pokers with a hook on one
end) and other painful tools of the trade.
Undercover video footage of animal training
sessions at circuses has shown that elephants are
beaten with bullhooks and shocked with
electric prods, big cats are dragged by heavy
chains around their necks and hit with sticks, bears
are smacked and prodded with long poles and
chimpanzees are kicked and hit with riding crops.
Constant travel means that animals are
confined to boxcars, trailers or trucks for days at a
time in extremely hot and cold weather, often
without access to basic necessities such as
food, water and veterinary care. Elephants, big cats,
bears and primates are confined to cramped and
filthy cages in which they eat, drink, sleep, defecate
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Florida, with five children on her back. In more than
35 dangerous incidents documented since 2000,
elephants have bolted from circuses, run amok
through streets, crashed into buildings, attacked
members of the public and killed and injured
handlers.
Trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns, tightrope
walkers and acrobats deserve applause, but let’s
leave animals in peace. Cirque du Soleil is just one
example of an exciting and innovative circus that
dazzles audiences without animal acts. Don’t
support the cruelty that animals endure under the
big top, please, never attend a circus that uses
animals.