How do you feel about animals in circuses?

I’ve not been to a circus since I was around 10 years old. I don’t like circuses or zoos. I hate to see animals behind bars.

For some of us, the only time we will ever seen a live lion, tiger, or elephant will be in the circus. So it’s a bit harsh to no longer have them.

Ringling Brothers is out of business, so the question is sort of moot.

There are other circuses and they travel with animals @elbanditoroso .

I am not a fan of enslaving animals and forcing them to clown around for filthy humans, and afterwards being locked in tiny cages.
At least in zoos, while they are still imprisoned, they get fed properly, they get their own sizeable living area including a private area for them to retreat to, tailored to their species, and they do not have to do anything other than do whatever they want. Even just lounging around is fine. As is flinging shit at the visitors for shits and giggles.

@ragingloli There are also different legal requirements for zoos that aren’t required of circuses. I realise there are bad zoos and good zoos and I guess there are good circuses and bad circuses. With zoos, they are required to engage in public education programs and responsible breeding programs. We all hear the horror stories, but maybe they are getting fewer and far between.

I love Circus Animals

I get depressed when I see horses in stables. Definitely against wild animals in circuses.

Nope.

Hey if they’re real lucky & catch a break a movie producer from Pixar will show up with his satanic kids & turn their torture into a lovely sweet story…just imagine how thrilled they’d be.

This is rapidly becoming a moot point, as it is just one more issue mitigating against the economics of maintaining a profitable circus. Circuses are vanishing like snow in August.

Would it surprise you to read this list, @stanleybmanly ? http://www.bornfreeusa.org/facts.php?more=1&p=425 And that is just in the US. There are plenty over here in Europe, still. as well. Again.. not all bad and some have animals that have been taken in from captive situations and are well loved, but there is limited regulation and oversight.

I’m not a fan. Especially in regards to elephants. If nobody has seen, the elephants usually come from places they were tortured, and mentally broken. Those animals endured horrific things, as most do.

Elephants have a very highly developed limbic system, like whales and higher primates. They are highly social and emotional animals and I feel the same. Elephants should NEVER be held in solitary situations ever. That is sad.

I worked with a guy who’d been an accountant for Ringling Brothers. He’d been repulsed and distressed by the circus’s treatment of animals. He told me that all the media reports of abuse and mishandling barely scratch the surface; the reality was worse than any of could imagine.

@Love_my_doggie awwww… that makes me so sad. Did anyone do a recon of what happened to the animals when they went broke a few years ago?

^I suspect that there may be multiple stories about ALL kinds of craziness from that train wreck.

Probably no heads can roll, that haven’t already though. Hopefully those types of circuses, are going to be a thing of the past…

I am not at all a fan of circuses, and ones that tease animals into performing for a brief time out of their cages are even worse,

@rojo, I am totally with you.

If the animals were treated extremely well, I wouldn’t mind. Sadly many circus animals have often been treated horribly.

I don’t like it. A circus is nothing like a zoo. I can only imagine how stressful the environment must be for the animals. Constantly changing, constantly moving. No, I don’t like it.

@ScienceChick I’m not saying there aren’t any circuses pushing animal acts. What I’m saying that they are rapidly dwindling in numbers. I noticed for example that the premier circus-Ringling Brothers is on your list, and they’ve folded their tents for the last time and marched into history. I also think that a lot of those circuses with animal permits no longer feature large animals other than horses in their menageries. And I expect both trends to continue.

It reminds me of the Simpson’s episode where town activists grow suspicious of a game preserve for rare and endangered animals that is actually an operation producing “exotic” meat. Lisa uncovers the fraud and confronts the owner who in a hurt voice and wounded tone declares “But I LOVE all of these animals, and would you like to know why?” When she answers “yes” the hurt expression shifts to one of sinister malevolence with the reply “Because they’re delicious.”

The lion tamer wouldn’t have much to do unless he was nude…