The circus has always been known to be a place to go to have fun with the family, be entertained by the funny clowns, and learn all about the amazing performing animals. It is an event many towns and families look forward to experiencing again or for the first time. Although the circus can be a fun experience for the audience members who come maybe once a year, for the animals it is a horrific ongoing experience that never ends. Circus animals should no longer be legally allowed to participate in or be a part of the circus because the animals are abused, are a danger to themselves as well as the people around them, and perform unnatural tricks.

The circus we all know today is a completely different circus from when it first started in the United States back on April 3, 1793 (Brooke). The first circus to appear was created by a man named “John Bill Rickets, an English equestrian rider, [who] used a ring and added acrobats, a rope walker and a clown to his equestrian act” (Brooke). For the longest time, John was the only circus act around, so people would line up from miles away to see firsthand the amazing and hilarious acts. Unfortunately, one day John Bill Rickets was lost in a shipwreck and this not only put a stop to his circus, but it almost made the entire circus completely disappear (Brooke). However, the traveling menageries started catching the public’s attention (Brooke). The menagerie started off by simply putting “individual wild animals on display and [charging] admission”, but then it slowly started to develop into “adding more animals into their shows” (Brooke). Finally, in the “late 1830s, promoters figured out a way to combine the menagerie with the circus” which created the circus with all the exotic animals that we know today (Brooke). Slowly more aspects of the circus started to be added such as “a round tent 90 feet in diameter over [the] ring” as well as the freak show (Brooke). As the circus became more popular, competition for the circuses became very intense. People absolutely loved the circus because the “traveling shows went to the people and often gave them the only entertainment they had all year” (Brooke). Eventually, “on May 10, 1869, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads were connected at Promontory Point, Utah” (Brooke). This completely changed the way circuses traveled from place to place, because the “show [use to be] limited by how far its baggage stock horses could walk overnight” (Brooke). Many characteristics of the circus changed over the years, but “the clowns were there, the elephants were there, the jungle acts were there, the rare and exotic people were there” so the circus was there (Brooke).

When people hear that animals at the circus are abused and mistreated, they look back at the time they attended the circus to try to disprove any insinuation of that by what they personally saw on stage, but the abuse is not on stage for everyone to see it is behind the scenes and hidden for no one to ever witness. The circus is not going to openly show the abuse these animals endure every day, they will try to hide behind the shadows for no one to ever realize what is happening. These animals are exposed to multiple types of abuses such as physical and phycological abuse.  

The most common and often worse form of abuse is physical abuse. The circus handlers and trainers use “whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks, and more tools of torture” to get the animals to obey orders (Margulis). Not only are these animals beaten and scared into submission, but they are also permanently injured such as “bears [having] their noses broken and their paws burned” (Margulis). The circus employees beat their animals just to show that they are dominate and have power over the animal. In one case an elephant was beaten for “30- minutes in Tulsa, Oklahoma [which] left the animal screaming and bleeding profusely from her wounds” (Smith). These animals are also deprived of basic necessities, such as food, water, and veterinary care which can cause harm to the animals and sometimes death (Smith). No animal should ever be starved or dehydrated for training purposes, punishment, or anything else. Although circus animals are not your average household pet, one would never starve their animal just because it did not sit when it was told or take away their water because they chewed up some paper. If someone did commit such a cruel and horrible act, the result would be prison time and or confiscation of that animal. One last major physical abuse circus animals encounter is being cramped and chained up. According to animal enthusiast and accomplished writer, Elise Margulis, “circus animal prisoners spend 96% of [their] time in chains or cages”. This gives them little to no space to move around or walk. All they see is the world pass them by, whereas if they were in the wild they would be passing the world on by. These animals are also neglected in boxcars for eleven months a year and in a place where there is no climate controls (Margulis). Boxcars with no climate control will overheat and freeze faster because the heat or cold is trapped in the confined space. This makes for an extremely dangerous living condition for the animal as well as the potential to cause physical harm.

Another form of abuse these circus animals are commonly subjected to is psychological abuse. Psychological abuse is when something is emotionally damaging towards someone, or in this case an animal. A major sign “that the animals are suffering emotionally [is] repeated swaying and pacing” in the cage (Margulis).  These animals are meant to be out in the wild with miles of land in front and behind them, so being cooped up in a cage is emotionally scarring and against their nature. The circus also ties down “all four [of the mother elephants] legs so babies can be immediately stolen without their mothers able to protect them” (Margulis). This causes the mother to constantly worry and stress out about their newborn. This can be emotionally straining for both the newborn and mother. On the other hand, in the wild newborn elephants are weaned for up to five years (Margulis) allowing them to learn everything they need to survive. The babies need their mothers no matter if they are in the wild or the circus.

But of course, everything presented is a simple fact. Every fact presented is considered a statistic and doesn’t have an emotional connection or effect until evidence of a real situation is presented, and that is where an elephant named Kenny comes in. Kenny became famous from performing in The Greatest Show on Earth and from the horrifying abuse he received. Kenny at the time he was taken "would still be at his mother's side, just beginning to wean", but because he was taken from her "he was a voracious consumer of water and hay" (Nelson). Lately, though some attendees noticed that Kenny was showing little to no interest in either” (Nelson). These “worried attendants [were] in the tent where [Kenny was] chained between shows, twice alerted a circus veterinary technician” (Nelson). Legally if an elephant or any animal is sick prompt medical care and a veterinarian's okay is needed before the animal can go out and preform a show (Nelson). In Kenny’s case, “neither occurred and at show time Kenny trotted out to the center ring” (Nelson). During his performance, Kenny “developed diarrhea during the morning show, and began bleeding from his bottom and afterward struggled to stay on his feet during the afternoon performance (Nelson). Finally, after all this the circus, veterinarian Gary D. West arrived to check on the horribly sick elephant (Nelson). The veterinarian “prescribed antibiotics and recommended that Kenny skip the evening show” (Nelson). Unfortunately, Gary “was overruled by Gunther Gebel-Williams, so Kenny made his third appearance, although he was too weak to perform any stunts” (Nelson). Later, after all the shows the “crew gave Kenny rehydration fluids and shackled him in his stall” (Nelson). Not long after “a night attendant discovered his bloodied body on the concrete floor and the cause of death [still] remains unclear” (Nelson). Kenny is one of the many cases of animals in the circus being overworked, abused, and mistreated. Many cases of animal deaths in circuses have unknown causes because the animals are not given proper medical care for it to ever be recorded. 

Going to the circus and seeing these exotic animals is such an exciting experience, but what most people forget is that all the animals in the circus are wild and dangerous. The circus may seem like a safe and fun place because one is sitting in the audience, but “there have been hundreds of incidents involving animal attacks and escapes from animal circuses, often resulting in property damage, injuries, and death for both humans and animals” (Smith). People also seem to forget that if one were to see these wild creatures in their natural habitat, one would no longer feel as safe as they did when they were in the circus. All of these animals have the potential to cause harm, major injuries and sometimes death, even if they seem well trained and obedient. No trainer can beat out an animal’s natural instincts or reactions to certain situations, even if they were born into the circus. For example, we as humans have a natural reaction to scream or jump when we get scared and no matter how hard someone else tries to stop us from reacting in that way, it is almost impossible to stop. For animals, it is the exact same, when they feel threatened in any way they are going to use whatever means are necessary to protect themselves. Many times, the animals will attack rather than be defensive. It is also common for animals to escape from the circus. According to Elise Margulis, “since 2000 there have been more 35 dangerous incidents in which elephants have escaped from circuses, run through streets, collided into buildings, charged bystanders, and killed and injured handlers.” These animals are not only a danger to humans but also themselves. 

One of the most shocking and horrific animal attacks “involved Tyke, an elephant traveling with Circus International in Honolulu in 1994” (Smith). The elephant was out of the cage wreaking havoc around the city for an hour and “killed her trainer and caused injuries to more than a dozen people” (Smith). The “police fired 87 bullets into Tyke before killing her [and] this was not the first-time Tyke had acted out” (Smith). Tyke also “caused $10,000 in damage during a Shrine Circus performance [as well as attacking her] trainer and breaking two of his ribs” (Smith). Another incident, which was recorded by Eva an attendee at the performance, captured some circus lions attacking their trainers and supposedly killing one of them. One can hear tons of screaming throughout the attack, as well as see trainers rushing to help and attempt to stop the lion. These wild creatures may seem cute, sweet and loving in the ring, but when they escape, or when they have had enough, they will attack and aim to kill. 

Most people’s reason for attending the circus is to see all the exotic animals perform amazing tricks no one would ever think possible, but this is another reason circus animals should be banned. Many circuses like “to say animals enjoy doing tricks because the tricks are based on behaviors they would naturally do in the wild", but anyone who has gone to the circus knows that all the tricks performed in the circus are completely unnatural and would never be seen in the wild (Dolmage). Now of course it is not completely obvious when one is an audience member and watching the animals prance around stage to happy music to question the acts being performed, but one looks “at how utterly preposterous these tricks would be if performed in the wild, it becomes obvious that these behaviors are anything but natural” (Dolmage). For example, one would never see elephants standing on a barrel, bears dressed in costume and riding a motorcycle, a tiger riding a horse, or a person riding a lion. All of these acts just seems ridiculous and outrageous, but the worst trick of all is a tiger jumping through a ring of fire because tigers naturally fear fire (Margulis). One would never see a wild tiger running up to a jungle fire and jumping over it back and forth. Instead the animal would naturally run away fearing for its life. One other major trick that could potentially harm the animal is when the elephant stands on its head. These animals weight tons and having to support that kind of weight with only two legs can cause the animal to have a severe injury. Not only are the tricks performed unnatural, but they are also severely dangerous not only towards the creature but also others.  

One event that went horribly wrong was during an elephant’s performance. Supposedly “the beast is seen balancing on top of three platforms” and when the animal started to make its way down the elephant seems “to overbalance and come crashing to the ground” (Gee). When the poor animal hits the ground, he "rolls backward into the barrier of the circus ring, coming to rest just yards from spectators" as well as "ending up on its back with its feet in the air" (Gee). Gee said nothing more about the huge animal’s tumble, not even about the health or injuries caused by the fall, but Gee did mention that other concerned “elephants [rushed] towards their stricken comrade in what appears to be an attempt to help their performing partner” up. None of these animals chose to be a part of the entertainment industry, but they were forced to be a part of it whether they liked it or not. 

A couple of years back, I had the opportunity to volunteer at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand. All of the animals there were previously abused and mistreated before they arrived and have no hope of returning back to the wild. When the elephants first arrived, their eyes were sunken in, which is a sign of malnutrition, their backs were curved the wrong way, which is from the seats people put on the elephants back, and their ears were all torn up, which is from the bull hooks constantly being stabbed in their ears and all of these things the circus does to their animals. Being at the sanctuary causes one to think about the horrible and awful conditions the elephants at the circus have. None of the animals are tied up, they are not forced to participate in any activates, and they are constantly fed which is the complete opposite of the circus.     

Most people would say that animals being a part of the circus is a horrible and tortures thing, but not everyone agrees. Some people believe that these animals live rewarding lives and love being able to perform on stage every day (McPherson). They believe that these “animals suffer no stress during [their] performance, training, or transportation”, but if that were true then the animals would be willing to do everything without being abused or sometimes told (McPherson). Others think that “it’s the only form of entertainment where the under-fives are guaranteed to enjoy themselves as much as their grandparents” so the circus has to stay, but there are plenty of different and fun places to go besides the circus (McPherson). Lastly, the biggest argument people have is that it is a tradition. People want their kids and grandkids to be able to witness a circus firsthand instead of just having to explain it or show pictures. Although the circus has been a traditional idea, there are other circuses such as the Cirque du Soleil that do not have abused and mistreated animals a part of it. 

Animals should be banned from the circus because they are mistreated, dangerous, and perform tricks no one would ever see in the wild. All of these circus animals are physically and emotionally harmed by both the trainers and caregivers. Kenny, for example, was neglected and left to die. These animals are treated with no respect, and because of that, they become a fearful animal when they escape from their cages. Tyke is another example of when animals get loose and run around causing tons of damage and even death. Lastly, the animals are also forced to perform ridiculous tricks that just simply make them look idiotic. The animals have to dress up in costumes and prance around the stage doing tricks that is not only unnatural but can cause harm to the animal. This is why it is important to boycott circuses until all animals are removed from the circus.

   