Call for animals to be banned from circus

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CALL FOR ANIMALS TO BE BANNED FROM CIRCUS
Introduction
When children as well as adults see animals in circus, it gets into their minds that animals are meant for their amusement. However, apart from the cruelty that animals go through during training and the confinement of the animals, the entire idea of humiliating animals for our enjoyment is indicates lack of respect for animals (Andy 129). Circus refers to as a group of performers that travel from one place to another. The group may include trained animals, acrobats, clowns, musicians and tight rope walkers among others. In our case focus is on animal circuses. Wild animals are subjected to training in order to perform. They are used as performers. In most cases, they are forced to go through harsh training in order to abandon their wild characters and adopt the desired characters and behaviors that would amuse the audience. This subjection to severe training that makes the animal circus unfair. These animals are denied their rights. When compared to their counterparts in zoos and in the wild, they do not enjoy nature that was intended for them. These animals are denied the chance to roam around and instead they are confined to a cage. The reason that animals cannot communicate to people makes many to assume animals. Therefore, they are easily mistreated and abused. Throughout the training and travelling, the animals are confided in small cages (enclosures) hence denying them the freedom to express their natural behavior. Further, the training is in most cases based on punishment and fear. Despite the fact that their suffering is a lifelong experience, their role in entertainment lasts only for a few minutes which makes more unfair. The paper closely examines why it is necessary to ban the animal circus.
Materials and methods
In search of information on animal circuses, I searched on relevant peer as well as non-peer-reviewed literature through electronic databases such as websites such as Google search engine among others. Similarly there was the use of scholarly materials, books, magazines and bibliography of significant reports. The methodology used in the research was the one proposed during course work (Clarke 10). There was the use of terms such as tiger & circus, elephant & circus and circus & animals among others. These were significant in the search over the electronic devices and libraries such EdCC Library databases. There were further investigations on the worldwide web to find out on het trainings and the trainers of the animals. The search was also committed to investigate on the travel conditions of h circus animals as well as their schedule. There was also comparison between the animals in the parks and zoos with the animals involved in circuses. The terms used were such as transport & circus and circus & touring among others.
Captivity of the animals
Animals under captivity are denied their freedom of movement and social life. They do not have time to interact with the nature (Andy 129). They are enclosed in small closures that limit and control their movements and behaviors. For example a herbivorous animal in a zoo or in the park, spends most of its time foraging. On the other hand, a carnivorous animals that is in the zoo or park, spends most of its time searching for its prey and chasing after them. In contrary, the animals in circuses are provided with food. The foods are concentrated into smaller amounts such as pellets. Further, the food is provided at a particular point. This makes the animals to spend the rest of their time idle because they do not have to go looking for food. This is altering the behavior of the animals as well as denying them their rights to enjoy nature.
Space is another captivating factor to the animals in circuses. Animals in circuses spend about ninety percent of their time in cages. Most of these animals are social animals. Therefore, denying them the opportunity to socialize is torture to them. For example an elephant under normal circumstances can travel over twenty five kilo meters in a day. However, in circuses an elephant is enclosed in a cage and the much it can move is just a few steps frontwards and backwards. The more the wide-ranging of an animal the more the welfare of the animal is compromised by captivity.
In captivity (circuses) the animals are controlled in their breeding (Clarke 10). This may lead to a reduced species of the animal. In the account that these animals are ill treated during their training, their life span is limited. The species may die due to reduced chances of reproduction of the animals. In most cases social animals are singly housed. The grouping is normally smaller that it is in the wild settings. This limits the normal social dynamics of the animals. This also affects the welfare, behavior and the reproduction of the animals.
Prolonged breeding of the animals in captivity would not affect the behavior of the animals from their wild behaviors. In a study conducted on a farmed mink, the animals were enclosed in cages without water access for over seventy generations. The purpose of this study was not to tame the animals but for fur quality. After they were given the opportunity to access water, the animals were not only willing to search for water but also to pay a price for the same. This is unlike in the normal wild life where the animals look for water. This study was an indication that enclosing and separating the animals from the wild would not change their wild behaviors. Instead it would be denying them the opportunity and mounting increased desires to satisfy these needs.
Travel effects on animal welfare
Animals involved in circuses travel more often at least once in every one week. The animals are subjected to stress sources such as noise, human handling, movement, and cage movement among others (Clarke 10). The farewell factors for consideration in animal welfare during their transportation may include food and water, rest, loading and unloading and climate. These factors are significant for the well being of the animals. During the trip, the trailers may be exposed to extreme temperatures. Most of the trailer containers do not have sufficient air supply due to poor ventilation. This affects the animals’ health and wellbeing. In a study on the transportation of the animals in circuses, it was discovered that out of six cases for had poor ventilated containers and two circuses transported their animals in insulated walls and ventilation fans of high quality. This was in order to maintain conducive temperatures internally.
Transportation of animals may have deleterious effects on the animals’ reproduction. A research found that transportation of domestic cows would reduce the ovulation rate hence affecting the reproduction of the species (JOHN 1). This is also true in the animals in circuses. Drivers and handlers of the animals may not be aware the changes in the containers that may affect the animals such as temperature. Further, animals movement in the trailer is very much limited. This is tiresome especially in cases of long journeys. Other animals such as elephants are chained during transportation which is more torture. This being an activity that happens more often, the animals are therefore, subjected to cruelty. This would call for the ban of the animals’ circuses.
However, overall there lacks evidence of the effect caused by transport stress in the circus animals. More so, transportation being a significant stressor that affects the welfare of animals negatively, it is assumable that such experience is equally stressful to the wild animals.
Transportation of some animals such as reptiles is harmful to the wellbeing of the animals. Reptiles are so much sensitive to vibrations as well as temperature changes. Reptiles and amphibians are sensitive to airborne vibrations as well as the ground vibrations. They are adapted to this for the purposes of identifying predators and detection of prey. Therefore, presence of such vibrations interrupts their normal existence hence causing stress.
Circus animals’ health
The circus animals’ health is affected by the captive environment. For example, elephants restricted to zoos and circuses may develop obesity. This problem later may lead to joints defection and the ligament of legs (Christopher 1). In a study conducted with African and Asian elephants indicated that in five African and sixty Asian elephants from five zoos and three circuses had rheumatoid disorders. Further, the research identified elephants with lameness and arthritis. These disorders are common among the elephants in zoos and circuses because of the animals often assumption of performance positions unlike the animals in the wild life. Further, the animals in circuses develop skin disorders brought about by the lack of mud baths that the wild elephants use to take care of their skins.
The spread of diseases among the animals in circuses and zoos may be faster than it would be in the wild elephants. For example, the African elephants are known to spread elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus to the Asian counterparts. This would not happen in the wild because the two elephant species would never meet in the wild. This is therefore common in circuses and zoos where all species of elephants are mixed up and travel from one place to another.
Further, disease transmission from circus animals to human may pose a threat to human he...