The Truth Behind a Circus

For many, the word “circus” evokes imagery of popcorn, candy, "wild" animals, and fun. However, behind the glitter and the glitz of the circus lies a cruel world of untold animal suffering. Animals used in circuses are unwilling participants in a show that jeopardizes their health and mental well-being.

Trained by pain
Circuses force animals to perform tricks that have nothing to do with how these creatures behave in the wild. Animals are sometimes injured while performing. Training animals to perform acts that are sometimes painful or that they do not understand requires whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods and other tools. Circuses claim to use "positive reinforcement" and to base their tricks on behaviors that animals carry out naturally. If this were true, however, the trainers would be carrying bags of food treats, not a whip or a metal weapon.

Travel can be torture
Animals in circuses travel long distances before a performance. During transport and between performances, tigers, who in the wild would secure 75-2,000 square miles, are kept in cages with barely enough room to turn around. They are forced to eat, sleep, and defecate in the same trailers, where they can be kept for stretches of more than 24 hours. Circus schedules are created to maximize attendees, not to accommodate the animals from which they profit. Some of the many circuses that use animals travel as many as 48 weeks out of the year and cover thousands of miles. Some circuses go to warmer countries in the summer, even though the animals may suffer in extreme temperatures. The same unfortunate situation occurs in the winter in colder areas. These factors exacerbate the already stressful conditions caused by confinement and transport.

Life in captivity
Even if conditions were improved and humane methods of training were used, the fact is that keeping wild animals in captivity deprives animals of much of what they value in life. Wild animals are complex creatures—not robots to be stacked in boxes and hauled to the next show. Animals have relationships with other members of their species and would naturally live in social groups or families. Animals value exploring their environment, nurturing their young, courting and mating, and playing with others. However, in captivity, they are prevented from doing all of these things and instead live a life based on human wants and whims. Lives of constant confinement and frustration of natural instincts force animals into a state of neurosis. Elephants in circuses constantly sway back and forth in their chains, and tigers constantly pace in their cages. These repetitive behaviors are symptoms of deep psychological distress due to being deprived of fulfilling their natural instincts. Animals can resort to self-mutilation from lack of psychological stimulation.

Anti-Educational
Contrary to what circuses say and the justification some people use for taking students to circuses, seeing animals in circuses does not provide a realistic educational tool because the animals are forced to perform tricks and live in conditions that are not natural for them. The animals are in an environment drastically different from their natural habitats, and their spirits are broken from harsh training and from not being able to fulfill some of their most basic needs and instincts.

Fun Circuses
An end to animal circuses doesn't mean an end to fun. There are many circuses that are exciting and entertaining without abusing animals. By supporting animal-free entertainment and not going to circuses that use animals, we can move towards an end to the use of animals in circuses.

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