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Crystal Reed
English 112
Professor Hunter

24 June 2016

Should Animals be Used as a Source of Entertainment, Such as Circuses and Zoos?

Circuses and zoos have captivated audiences since as early as 1789, but the excitement
surrounding these types of entertainment disguise a serious problem (Jando 2016). Animals dont
naturally ride bikes, jump through rings of fire, stand on their heads and balance on balls, nor do
they want to live in a small enclosed cage. These animals are taken from their natural
environment, put into cramped cages and abused, tormented and starved until they learn these
exciting tricks. Animals are not meant to perform or be held captive for our enjoyment. The
use of animals as entertainment, such as circuses and zoos, is inhumane and should be forbidden.
One might argue that animals are being used for entertainment because the animals love doing
tricks and they are trained through positive reinforcement. However, these animals do not love
performing for us. They are abused into submission, not trained through positive reinforcement.
Trainers use whips, bullhooks, ankus, and other tools to inflict unbearable pain to force the
animals to perform (see Figure 1). An LCA investigator went undercover inside the Carson &
Barnes, where he witnessed elephants being beaten with baseball bats, pitchforks, shocked with
prods and hit on the head and across the face (Last Chance for Animals 2016).

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Fig. 1: Stills from video of Annie the Asian elephant being beaten in the winter quarters
of the Bobby Roberts Super Circus. Photograph: Animal Defenders International.

In additional to physical abuse, animals are deprived of water, food, and medical care. The
animals have little access to food and water as to will them to perform, as well as to prevent them
from defecation and urination while they are performing for the public (Last Chance for Animals
2016). Animals suffer untreated wounds from being beat; they are afflicted with tuberculosis and
herpes that goes untreated, serious foot problems and even suffer broken bones from performing
the tricks. Philip Ensley, a retired veterinarian, inspected elephants at the center for Elephant
Conservation that were taken from circuses. He detailed his finding in a 290 page report that
included the following findings: Nearly 100 percent of the adult elephants were lame with
serious foot problems or musculoskeletal disorders, he found. Their fee were misshapen,
ulcerated, abscessed, and infected-no small matter for a four-ton animal forced to spend most of
its life standing in place (Nelson 2011). Circus animals also suffer unnecessary and often
dangerous amounts of emotional stress not only while performing, but during transport as well. A
general guideline for transporting animals calls for a cage that allows the animals to turn around
and lie down comfortably. However, tigers who in the wild would secure 75-200 square miles
dont even have enough room to turn around. Elephants, which would walk up to 40 miles a day

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in the wild, are tied up with chains so they can only take a few steps back and forth. The animals
are forced to eat, sleep and even defecate in the same trailers. Most circuses travel as much as 11
months in the year, resulting in the animals being chained and confined in small trailers on an
average of 26 hours straight. Ringling Bros. travel documents state that are times that animals are
chained for as many as 60 to 100 hours (Last Chance for Animals 2016). In August 1997, police
officers in Albuquerque, N.M. found a dead six-year-old elephant inside King Royal Circus
poorly ventilated trailer. The trailer not only carried the dead elephant, but it was packed with ten
other circus animals. Officials attribute the death to heat exhaustion (Holtmann 1997).
Another reason why animals should not be used for entertainment is that they are considered
wild animals that act with violence when threatened. This could potentially lead to animals
harming circus performers or even spectators. Since trainers often resort to abusive training
techniques, the animals they train become temperamental, resulting in attacks on people. In 2013
a tiger killed his handler in the circus ring in Mexico. The trainer had just begun his act, when
one of the tigers lunged towards him, causing fatal injuries. In the end, the tiger was put down
(Moreno 2013). On April 3, 2000, a 6-year old boy was killed and devoured by five circus lions,
while the boys and his father was touring the animal cages after a performance. The boy was
dragged into a cage of lions and killed. One of the circus workers reported that the lions had not
been feed in five days. Four of the five lions were shot to death (Human Society 2016). Circuses
can avoid such devastating events if they discontinue the employment of animals.
Although circuses are the most reported entertainment venue of animal abuse, zoos are also
guilty of animal abuse. While supporters of zoos would argue that they stimulate interest in
animals among the public and help visitors to become more interested in animal conservation,
some studies prove that this is not the case. A people-watching study conducted over five

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summers by National Zoo curator Dale Marcellini found that individuals at zoos spent little time
talking about animals or animal behavior. According to Marcellini, less than one percent of
visitors read the signage provided to supply educational information about the animal exhibits
(Fravel 2003).
Zoos will claim that they have healthy, long-lived animals that reproduce, which is proof of good
care. However, the Humane Society shows proof of animals living in zoos that had infrastructure
in various stages of disrepair; inadequate cage sizes, safety risks to animals, keeps, and the
public; filthy, foul-smelling, and unsanitary conditions; numerous veterinary concerns;
inadequate shelter; muddy enclosures; inadequate staffing; unsanitary feeding; dirty drinking
water; house incompatible animals in the same enclosure; and poor housekeeping (Humane
Society).
On top of having to live in poorly cared for enclosures, zoos are often overpopulated, resulting in
animals having to share their already small living spaces. This results in animals transmitting
infections and parasites like colds, influenza, tuberculosis and/or measles. People have also been
sickened, and some have died, after contracting diseases from animals (People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals 2016). It is also very common for animals to suffer from zoochosis from
being bored and lonely. Animals with zoochosis will rock back and forth constantly. Zoos are
known for giving animals who suffer from zoochosis a mood altering drug to prevent the public
from noticing that the animals are mentally sick.
Additionally, animals are also known to risk their lives in desperate attempts to free themselves,
such as banging their heads on the walls, biting the cages causing serious mouth injuries, and
being killed for escaping their enclosures. A 300-pound gorilla in Dallas, TX escaped his closure

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by jumping over the 16 foot concave walls and moats of his enclosure, injuring four spectators.
Ultimately, the gorilla was shot and killed by the police. A witness ended up confessing that
teenagers were throwing rocks at the gorilla before he escaped (Associated Press 2004).
Animals should no longer be used for entertainment. As evidenced through this report, animals
used for entertainment have to endure unhealthy living conditions, horrible abuse, emotional
illnesses, ultimately putting the safety of spectators, staff and the animals at risk. The use of
animals as entertainment, such as circuses and zoos, is inhumane and should be forbidden.

Working Bibliography

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Animal Defenders International/PA, Photo. Retrieved 24 July 2016 from

http://www.mylot.com/post/2665519/zoos-good-or-bad-for-animals
Associated Press. Gorillas Escape, Violent Rampage Stun Zoo Officials. NBC News, 3
March 2004. Web. 24 June 2016.
Fravel, Laura. "Critics Question Zoos' Commitment to Conservation." National
Geographic News. Natl. Geographic Soc., 13 Nov. 2003. Web. 24 July 2016.
Holtmann, Andy. Elephant Killed by Heat Exhaustion Performed in LV. Las Vegas Sun,
11 August 1997. Web. 24 July 2016.
Jando, Dominique. Short History of the Circus. Circopedia, (2016). Web. 24 June 2016.
Last Chance for Animals. 2016. Web. 26 June 2016.
(http://www.lcanimal.org/index.php/campaigns/animals-inentertainment/circuses)
Moreno, Carolina. Tiger Kills Trainer During Circus Performance For Circo Suarez in
Sonora, Mexico. The Huffington Post, 6 February 2013. Web. 24 July 2016.
Nelson, Deborah. "The Cruelest Show On Earth." Mother Jones 36.6 (2011): 48.
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Premier. Web. 26 June 2016.
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(http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/)
The Humane Society of the United States. 2016. Web. 26 June 2016.
(http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/circuses_entertainment/)
Wickins-Drailov, Dita. "Zoo Animal Welfare." Journal Of Agricultural &
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