Animal Abuse for Entertainment
Faith Davidson
Navigating an Argument
Sonja Linman
April 2016
. Outline
THESIS: Do you know what is happening behind the scenes of your favorite animal show? Is it worth it? Animals have been captured as early as the 19th century, lions were kept as a sign of wealth and curiosity and were often put up for display for the public viewing. Sounds like a zoo? Animal shows and zoos are clearly abusive regardless of how we have looked at them in the entertainment industry for all of these years.
History and Background Knowledge:
A. What forms of abuse are these animals going through?
- Physical, Mental, and emotional abuse/ trauma, weapons used to make animals submissive, and aggressive behavior from trainers to animals.
C.Animals are deprived of the basic necessities like food,water, and vet care
B. Wild VS Captive is there major differences?
A.Circus animals are big wild creatures that travel by foot long distances in the wild but in the circus they are confined to tiny cages with little to no room.
B.In captivity the animals don’t live up to the life expectancy that they would in the wild.
C.People argue that breeding extinct animals in captivity help save the species but the animals born in the circus never get to see the wild.
C. What can we do to make a difference for these beautiful creatures?
A.STOP buying tickets to any type of animal show, then less money equals very little shows eventually they will shut down and let the animals go home
B.FINALLY RETIRING! Ringling Bros. last elephant show is May 5, 2016
C.33 circus lions from Peru were flown safely to Africa not to be released into the wild because they do not have the teeth and claws to fend for themselves but they get to stay in a very well sanctuary
Davidson 1
Faith Davidson
Sonja Linmin
Writing an Argument
2 May, 2006
Do you know what's happening behind the scenes of your favorite animal show? Animals
have not always been used for the enjoyment and pleasure of humans. In the 19th century,
lions were captured as a sign of wealth and curiosity, the lions were kept in small cages
and put out in for public viewing. The first Circus show was sometime in the 19th century; and
people continue to watch these shows because they are curious and want to see
something new. Finally, people are recognizing that these shows are abusive and have risen up to
close them down. Seaworld first opened 52 years ago on March 21 1964. There are six parks in
the United States and runs year round. They get about 11 million visitors a year from all around
the globe. They confine anything from dolphins, sea lions, Orca whales and other sorts of marine
animals. Things got a little sticky for Seaworld when a documentary was released that revealed
the true horrors of seaworld. The film came out in 2013 and has made ticket sales and business in
general go down rapidly. Using animals for our entertainment has been happening for decades
and it's time to make a change.
Most animals that are kept in captivity get abused in a physical or mental form. The
elephants of the Ringling Brothers Circus, as training tools, get hit with bullhooks in the most sensitive parts of their body for example; around the eyes, back of the knee, under the chin and behind the ears. When a mother elephant has her calf they are torn away from the mothers and taken to their own little cage which impacts both the mother and calf tremendously. The Circus animals are hardly fed on a regular day but on a show day they will restrict food from the animals to keep them from defecating/urinating while performing. Another reason they restrict food is to make the animals obey a trick or a command for food. Animals are being starved and beaten to perform unnatural tricks.
Elephants are not the only animals that get abused in the circus, there have been reports of grizzly bears being burned with blow torches on their front paws so they can walk like a human. Grizzly bears also suffer from broken noses from being hit in the face with bullhooks when they disobey an order. Monkeys are often drugged so they are easier to handle and so they can not bite. They also get their teeth ripped out with pliers and hammers which is very unsanitary and unsafe for both the monkeys and humans. The animals of the circus are often confined to small cages, trailers, and boxcars for days at a time in weather that is unnatural for these animals. Some animals overheat or freeze to death because they are not accustomed to being in that environment. For example; when an elephant goes into freezing weather they will freeze, or a grizzly bear will overheat from being exposed to extreme heat. The circus is on the road 11 months out of a year and there is documentation that states elephants are chained up for 23-24 hours a day, in the most extreme cases they have been chained up for 60 to 100 hours at a time. That is just the physical abuse, they also go through severe mental abuse. Most circus animals suffer anxiety and stress which causes abnormal behavior, such as the animals swaying, rocking, head bobbing, and repetitive movements, and these are just the obvious signs of psychological distress.
SeaWorld has been very publicised in the news, social media, and from word to mouth because people are finally opening their eyes and noticing the abuse of marine animals. The animals of SeaWorld don’t really get physically abused it’s more a mental/emotional abuse. The whales are sea world's main attraction but they're the ones who suffer from the most abuse. The Orca whales are confined to small tanks that feel like tiny swimming pools. This affects them the most because they are huge animals they can grow up to 26ft long and weigh 4-8 tons, so they need a lot of space. They also need really large tanks because they don’t naturally sit in the top of the water, they like to go into the depths of the ocean to protect themselves from the harsh sun. But 40ft deep pools are not deep enough to hide them from the harsh elements which then leads to perpetual sun burns. The sun burns are then covered up by trainers with Black Zinc Oxide this is used because it’s black and camouflage the burns so they are unnoticeable. This ingredient is used in sunscreen, so why not use the sunscreen before the sunburn could even get there? The whales are not the only victims of seaworld abuse, a three year old orphaned sea lion was cooked to death when a water heater was accidently turned on causing the tank to reach up to 100 degrees fahrenheit, the USDA investigated and fined seaworld $2,000. Just like the animals in the circus, the animals in seaworld experience the same abnormal behavior from psychological distress, they sway, rock, swim back and forth, head butt the side of tanks, and bite at the tanks. Most of the marine animals eyes and skin get irritated from the chlorinated water which also causes their skin to peel. This does not happen in the wild.
These animals should be in their natural environments, running miles a day, but in captivity, they can not fulfill their natural life expectancy. Some circus animals are exotic like tigers, and they come from habitats like the rainforest, where they can hunt and run whenever they please. Most tigers roam from rainforest to savannah, from woodlands to mangroves. Obviously they are not able to do this in captivity; they are kept in a cage until they are taken out to be trained to do pointless acts. When lions hunt in the wild, if there is enough food for them to do so, they gorge themselves. They can eat up to 15% of their body fat allowing them to eat a lot. In the circus they are fed small portions of frozen meat and are not able to experience gorging themselves like the kings they are. Non Captive elephants walk up to 40 miles in one day and enjoy being in tight family groups. Baby elephants also like to give themselves dust baths to protect their skin from the sun, but of course in the circus, they are unable to do this. The only time they get to touch the dirt is with their feet and their face when they are being punished.
Life for marine animals in the wild and in captivity, is similar and devastating just like for circus animals. Dolphins swim up to 100 miles a day with other members of their pod. In captivity they are in a small tank alone, with not even enough room to swim in a straight line, and it not nearly deep enough for them to dive. In the wild, dolphins spend 90% of their lifetime underwater making their own choices, in captivity they spend their time at the surface of the water looking for attention and food from their trainers. In the wild, Orcas can live to 80-90 years old, but in captivity the only live to 30. Almost all Orcas in captivity have a collapsed dorsal fin which is a sign of an injured or sick Orca whale, this happens because they don't have enough room to swim which causes stress. They also don't get fed a diet that they would eat in the wild. A collapsed dorsal fin is a rare thing to happen in the wild because they are free, happy, and healthy.
The animals are not the only ones getting hurt, the trainers who run these shows put their lives at risk every day when they decide to work with a wild animal especially in the inhumane conditions they are kept in. There have been over 100 injuries and four deaths due to aggression and other physiological issues from marine animals being held in captivity. The audience of seaworld shows rarely get hurt, but the trainers of the animals are the ones who put themselves in danger each day. They get into the water with these animals who can dominate humans when we are in their territory. There was incident where a trainer was in the water with the whale and the whale started to push him into the middle of the tank where he would be most vulnerable.The man survived but lives to spread awareness.
Circus trainers and audiences are at risk of an animal breaking lose and hurting someone because they can’t take the abuse anymore. There is no certain number of how many people have been killed by these wild animals but there have been hundreds of people who have been injured, including children. There is also another safety hazard from working with wild elephants. They can contract Tuberculosis (TB) and pass it to their handlers and to each other because it is airborne, meaning it can spread just from breathing the same air as someone who has it. There was an elephant by the name of Tyke who escaped the circus in 1994 in Honolulu, Hawaii. She had finally had enough of the abuse and attacked her trainers, she stomped them, bit them, and then proceeded to run out of the circus into the streets. As soon as she was out in the streets she was being shot by dozens of guns. Thousands of shots echoed in Honolulu, until she lay on the ground taking her last breath. There is a video of the incident on the internet and that video is what inspires many people to become involved in animal rights. Social media has offered a new and current look into the abuses of circuses and zoos, and is finally resulting in response from the industry and regulators.
What can we do to help these animals stay out of captivity? There has been a lot of hype on social media about seaworld and the treatment of animals are now making news and headlines around the world. This has made people outraged and they stopped going to seaworld causing ticket sales to go down, which also means they are losing money and business. What can we as a group do for the the animals at seaworld? We need to self educate! There are tons of documentaries but the most famous one is called Blackfish. This film is about a performing whale who was kept at seaworld who injured and killed several people including trainers. The movie digs deep into the unsafe, inhumane ways animals are being kept in captivity. It educates us on how whales are supposed to live, and what they lack in captivity. After this film was released, seaworld lost $25.4 Million dollars because people quit going to the park this caused the chief executive at the time to resign.
Most people think that breeding while in captivity help saves the animals from going extinct, but the elephants that are born in the circus never get to see the wild. After years of protest, the Ringling Brothers are going to retire all the performing elephants in May of 2016! Pressure from the public works. Before the new date was released, the circus announced they would retire the elephants in 2018 but the ( !)))) LCA responded with a petition telling Ringling Brothers to retire them sooner, which they did. We can also help these beautiful silent creatures by not going to an animal circus. There are over a dozen circus that do not use animals for example; Cirque du Soleil, The New Pickle Family Circus, and Earth Circus. Organize or go to a peaceful protest to make your voice heard, spread awareness. Because of all the hype about how harmful animals shows are, there have been 33 circus lions that have been rescued from Peru and have been taken to Africa to a sanctuary where they can live out their lives in a safe and natural habitat. They can’t be released into the wild due to the fact that they don't have their claws and have broken and missing teeth from being in the circus, but this is great news and good things are coming to these animals.
Is it worth the animals’ lives to entertain us when we have a variety of other options? The best thing we have done for the beautiful silent creatures is to begin a worldwide effort of education and pressure against the animal entertainment industry. Big things are finally happening for the animals. Maybe we should step back and reevaluate our relationship with nature.