Animals in circuses

Performing wild animals pose a threat to public safety because they are unpredictable. These animals are trained, but not domesticated, and no amount of training or affection can eliminate the danger of sudden violent actions.

In addition to the persistence of instinct, abusive training methods and deprivation contribute to their being frustrated and potentially dangerous creatures.

There have been hundreds of attacks by circus animals. Since 1990 there have been reported over 43 human fatalities and more than 100 injuries as a result of attacks by captive elephants. In the same time period, there have been 25 fatalities and 75 attacks by captive wild felines. Elephant rides at carnivals pose the same threat.

Training methods are based on fear of pain, intimidation, deprivation, including withholding food and water. Animals are beaten with sharp tools, whips, chains and other constraints.

Animals in traveling shows are exposed to poor living conditions. Denied the stimulation and comforts of their natural environments, animals commonly display self-comforting behaviors like rocking and swaying. They spent much of their time in small cages, often times barely able to turn around. Big cats, bears and primates are forced to eat, drink, sleep, urinate, and defecate in the same cramped cages. Captive elephants spend much of their time chained in one place, and restricted motion can create circulatory problems and arthritis.

Child psychologists say circuses send a dangerous message to children. They believe it’s vital for children to learn empathy, but animals performing demeaning tricks teach the opposite: domination rather than understanding and appreciation. Children learn to disregard the feelings and needs of other living individuals.

Circuses present animals as creatures whose purpose is to amuse us. Watching wild animals performing unnatural tricks outside their natural habitats doesn’t teach people about the animals.

Elephants in the wild live in herds and have a large extended family with strong social bonds. Baby elephants stay very close to their mothers for the first 3 years, and the females remain with their extended families throughout their lifetime. They roam up to 25 miles a day. Large wild cats roam many miles a day too, hunting, sleeping in the sun, and leading a solitary existence.

After the show, the animals are locked in cages and shipped to the next town in poorly ventilated trucks and railway cars, often without food and water for extended periods.

Many circus animals are leased seasonally from dealers moving from circus to circus. With very few exceptions, veterinary care is limited and inconsistent.

Those animals that aren’t obedient or get too old to perform may be sold to zoos, roadside attractions, research laboratories, game reserves, or private individuals to end their lives in isolation and most of the time in miserable conditions.

To supply circuses and zoos around the world, most animals are cruelly captured in the wild. Captured baby elephants in Thailand are beaten mercilessly with wooden boards with spiked nails to break the babies’ spirit and show them human domination. While this abuse may last several days, their mothers are tied nearby unable to protect them.

Captive breeding programs do nothing to address the real threats endangered animals face in the wild, such as poaching, trophy hunting, loss of habitat, and loss of prey. Bred animals are never meant to be released into the wild.

No traveling animal act, regardless of size or appearance, is capable of handling exotic wildlife in a humane manner.

Wild and exotic animals have only minimal standards of protection under the Animal Welfare Act, and even those are poorly enforced due to the transient nature of traveling shows.

Federal USDA inspection records of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show more than 100 instances of substandard animal keeping between 1991 and 2000. Although such a record of non-compliant items is not rare, citations are seldom issued. Each year only approximately a dozen of the 2,000+ licensed animal exhibitors in the U.S. are cited, and just one or two may have their license suspended or revoked by the USDA. Fines are frequently suspended.

Some of the most recent cases of animal negligence at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey include:

• September 2006: An Asian elephant died of unreported causes and the circus didn't announce his death.
• August 2006: Two employees were fired because they complained about repeated beatings of elephants and horses. Sacha Houcke, the trainer, commonly used a bullhook with full force leaving animals bleeding.
• August 2004: An 8-month-old elephant was destroyed after suffering severe fractures to both hind legs after falling off a circus pedestal.
• July 2004: A 2-year-old lion died after traveling through the Mojave Desert in a poorly ventilated boxcar. No supervision or water was given to the lion.
• May 2004: Two horses were killed by a freight train as they were unloaded from the circus train near Dayton, Ohio.

Please support circuses without animals.

View the circuses that do not use animals.

Dozens of cities and municipalities across the US and abroad have passed ordinances banning wild and exotic animals from performing.

Support circuses without animals. Help introduce legislation in your community to ban animals in circuses. Contact us for information.