Do Circuses still abuse their animals?

No in the US they don’t anymore because that is part of animal misuse. In other countries i’m not quite sure. Sorry

IMO The fact that animals are even in a circus at all is abusive. Keeping elephants and lions and tigers in cages and forcing them to do tricks in a lighted ring in front of cheering people, moving them from place to place, every few days or weeks is a horror.

@Kardamom You are right. That is inhumane.

@Kardamom
But some people keep birds in cages and force them to learn tricks. Wouldn’t that be the same thing? It seems to be a lot more socially accepted.

Depends on who you ask. PETA would say yes every circus is cruel to animals. The only cruelty free circus is an animal-free one.

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/circuses.aspx

@wackytrixxie
I don’t believe anything from PETA.
They’re crazy.

I’m with @Kardamom. Enslaving animals for your amusement is abuse.

@Kardamom ahhh geez I hate this shit. I don’t go to, or take children to, any zoo. The animal shelters make me cry. I can’t watch the emotionally manipulative commercials related to abused animals. Even “preserves” for wildlife, eh not so much. I say leave those poor animals alone. I don’t even keep pets.

The thing is, most of these animals are born in captivity and it is all they know. If they were to be turned free in their own environment they would die because they do not know how to hunt. I am not sure if it is too bad a life to have your food provided every day, be taken care of your entire life, have a much longer life expectancy than your cousins in the wild.

In a way it is sad, but in another perspective, it is just the way it is. As always I feel more sorry for the chickens you eat at KFC or the beef and pork you eat that is factory farmed. To me that is a million times more cruel than the life circus animals lead. But only free range and don’t eat at KFC.

And yes, PETA people are over the top!!! I love my dogs and they have a pretty good life too even though the part dingo is not out hunting and killing roos for her supper.

@Kardamom has it.

The PETA thing is unrelated to this, in my opinion. This isn’t really a “let’s do some secret filming of the lives of circus animals to determine if they are being abused”. There is enough abuse evident in the mere existence of a traveling show of caged animals forced to “entertain” for humans.
And nobody is suggesting rounding up existing circus animals and releasing them into the wild @rooeytoo. It’s the industry that is cruel – the industry that breeds these animals for this purpose. You got it right on the meat stuff. Factory farmed animals aren’t living it up. Free range is a good first step.
First steps are merely that. You can’t keep yourself from taking a first step because you haven’t done it yet. You can make an ethical decision about the circus even though you may make it while eating a delicious KFC meal. Consciousness is a gradual thing. Extreme adherence to a policy of not being a hypocrite can lead to the maintenance of the status quo.
(in my opinion)

I fucking hate the circus.

I agree with @Kardamom.

some people keep birds in cages and force them to learn tricks

@NostalgicChills Seriously? You’re comparing caged domesticated birds to tigers & lions in cages?

First, we could start by comparing the size of the animal to the size of the cage.
Next, we could compare the nature of the animal…the desire/hard wiring of their brains…

Or we could come to the realization that those domesticated animals have (usually) one stable home that they are able to remain in without an audience or the need to actually do tricks to get food.

Does cruelty still exist? Well, according to a more credible source than PETA, it does And in most places it’s legal

The animals are still trained with hooks, tie downs, and whips. In many cases the circus rents the animals from brokers, then when the animal is no longer “of use”, the animal is given back to the broker…the broker then decides who to sell the animal to: a lab for testing, or worse.

Here are some Circus Myths for you to ponder over.

I own a dog that is actually about 90% dingo. You may say it is cruel of me to keep her penned in a yard and have her do tricks and go to obedience class and agility class when she is at heart a wild animal. I have seen how her cousin brothers live, they are very lean and often mange covered. Most bear scars from food fights. Mine on the contrary is well fed and medicated so she does not contract mange or other parasites. Should I set her free to try to find food in areas where she might be killed by a farmer by poison baits or shot or simply starve to death? Should she face the same difficulties of the koalas who are being displaced rapidly by an expanding civilization and some say in danger of becoming extinct?

I guess it all depends on your experience and perspective.

Would you rather all these animals be euthanized?

@stupidcomedycenter Making the abuse illegal does not stop it from happening.

This question made me think, “So, you still beatin’ your wife?”

@SpatzieLover
I was merely asking if that was considered the same thing or not. I wasn’t comparing anything.