Circus Animals

[jwa1107]

one thing that has always bothered me about circuses (especially Ringling) is not how they treat the animals but when they come to town they often do 2 shows a day, sometimes 3, for what seems like 2 weeks long. Now if they use the same animals over and over for every show I would worry about fatigue. I do not know if this is the case or not, but it is an issue in addition to general treatment and housing that concerns me about circuses.

[phantom]

That's an excellent point Jwa. We play ZT and our animals get fatigued from shows so I'm sure in real life the animals get tired as well. hopefully most circuses that perform multiple times each day do give the animals some time to rest and play with each other. That's something else that should be inspected as well.

[Robbieb]

most likeyle the animals in ringling are interchanged

[Jay]

I suspect that the animals are interchanged at Ringling. Just like companies have to have contingency plans if people get sick, similar plans need to be used at places involving animal shows.

Although I agree that there should be laws and inspections associated with treatment of animals, there is nothing wrong with having animals appear in multiple shows each day. At Sea World, sometimes there is interchanging within the same show. For example, the Sea Lion show appears to have 2 sea lions from the audience's perspective. Whereas, in reality, that is the minimum number and there can be as many as 7. Sometimes an animal is used in multiple shows. (One, Gilmore, loves to do the tricks and is known to train the trainers because he knows all of the routines so well.) Usually, the trainers even have the animals do behaviors for food between shows or at the end of the day. (These are usually the same behaviors that are needed for vets to examine the animals. That way the animals are accustomed to those behaviors when the vets come.) In many, if not all cases, all of the seen behaviors are just a form of play and not actually work. There are times when the animals can do what they want (the trainers call these "play" times), but the animals try to get the trainers involved in the play.

So, though I agree that animals need to be treated well, it is difficult to make hard rules about specific numbers. All animals have their own personalities and perspectives on things. That is why I think inspections are important because "good" versus "bad" treatment usually needs to be made on a case by case basis.

[Missy]

Living on a farm my perspective is differnet than most of the people here. I do not believe that animals should be treated cruelly. If the circuses stop where will all the animals go. I know that there are not enough places for them. I have heard people say (not necessaraly here) that animals should be destroyed rather than be treated without respect, but the animal cannot make the decision for themself. If an animal has food and shelter and is not treat too bad I think that he would rather be left alive than be destroyed. Most creaters (including humans) would choose even a hard life to death anytime. I hope that makes sense. Maybe a stiff fine for those who do not follow animal treatment rules should be enforced.