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Animals in Entertainment
"The cruel wild beast is not behind the bars of the cage. He stands in front of it."
-- Axel Munthe
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Animal Welfare Issues
No living being should ever be forced to perform unless they are a
willing participant who has chosen that life.
Not even the highest amount of animal welfare standards can provide
enough care to prevent animal suffering. All animals in captivity
suffer terribly and to think otherwise would be inaccurate or wishful
thinking. It is true that some forms of entertainment permit better
welfare conditions than others. And it is true that some companies
offer slight variances in how their animals are treated. But the fact
is that even in the best captive conditions, animals are still bought
and sold as if they were property, they are still separated from family
and friends, they cannot make any choices about how they would like
to live their life, and they are forced to perform no matter what,
often even if they are sick. All animals used for entertainment will
outlive their usefulness and then are killed or die from neglect.
Rare or exotic animals from zoos, circuses, or other facilities are
sold indirectly to canned hunts where they become a trophy prize when
shot within a fenced area, sold to wealthy private estates as exotic
pets, or die from neglect.
Obvious Types of Animal Entertainment
Most conscientious people do realize that horse racing, dog racing,
cock fighting, rodeos, bull fighting, elephant rides at fairs, and
canned hunts are for entertainment purposes only. Even supporters
of these events know that the only reason they exist is for their
entertainment value. There is no pretense of educational value or
wildlife management issues. With so many other forms of entertainment
available that are humane and do not involve animals, it is easy to
recognize the fact that animals used for entertainment suffer needlessly.
Hunting
Even though sometimes touted as necessary for wildlife management,
the majority of hunting is solely done for entertainment purposes.
If wildlife management were really the goal, then non-lethal methods
would also be attempted but they are not. Hunting is the main tool
used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Department
of Natural Resources (DNR). Both agencies are predominantly made up
of hunters and it's the hunting agenda that is promoted, not public
safety or decreased conflicts between wildlife and the public. Their
method for calculating annoyance statistics is also slanted toward
their anti-animal agenda. Phone calls from the public reporting animal
sightings are considered to be animal nuisance reports even though
there was no interaction between the animal and the person calling
or their belongings. The majority of reported animal nuisance calls
are purely animal sightings.
Simple public education could go a long way to cut down on unwanted
animal interaction with the public. For example, there are many dozens
beautiful deer-resistant
plants that could be planted in the yards of people who do not
want deer near their homes. Taking down bird feeders at night and
keeping trash cans indoors or using airtight trash cans could also
drastically cut down on unwelcome animal visits.
Circuses
Although the circus on the outside seems colorful, fun, and happy,
what people are really buying is a ticket to a lifetime of suffering,
despair and unthinkable hopelessness for animals. In order for a family
to have just one afternoon of entertainment, animals suffer for a
lifetime. Their only hope is for compassionate citizens everywhere
to go to non-animal circuses like Cirque Du Soliel, which relies on
the talents and abilities of willing participants.
The USDA rarely follows up even when hard evidence of abuse is found
because no one is there to witness any abuses as it happens, making
it difficult to prove how and from whom the animal received the injury.
Even when the USDA does write up the circus for violations, the circus
continues to operate the same way because current legislation is weak.
They are fined a small fine but nothing more. Therefore, it is up
to conscientious people and establishments to address this issue by
not supporting the use of animal acts in entertainment.
One thing to keep in mind is that the USDA only inspects circuses
twice a year, of which only one visit is unannounced. Therefore if
a circus only has one violation a year, that's a big deal. The animals
are only given very minimal legal protection, so to violate that really
means something. For example, a cage size only has to be big enough
for the animal to be able to turn his body around. Even though that
cage size "passes" inspection, it is still considered very inhumane.
Can you imagine keeping a cat or dog in a cage all day and night where
he only had room to turn his body around?
Plus, even when a circus is written up with a violation, it is very
rare that the animals are ever removed to a better situation or sanctuary.
A circus is usually only made to pay a monetary fine, which they just
roll into the ticket price as "operating expenses." With such minimal
penalties of the minimal protection, it practically means that the
animals have no protection at all.
Don't ever let a circus claim to you that they only use positive reinforcement
while training animals. While that tactic may work with domesticated
animals, it doesn't work with wild animals. Make sure to look at the
undercover video on CircusWatch.com
of an elephant being "broken in," which is what they do prior to training.
Very eye-opening video, but important to see so that you fully understand
what goes on
In addition to years of agonizing mental and physical torment caused
by abusive training techniques, the mere fact that oftentimes circus
animals (including elephants) are kept shackled for up to 23 hours
a day, induces a lifetime of misery. The fact is that no government
agency or any humane organization monitors the training sessions of
circus animals. Whips, chains, bullhooks and muzzles all bear testimony
to the brute use of force that is implicit in any circus involving
wild animals. Ex-Ringling Bros. employees like Tom Rider have now
dedicated their lives to fighting for these noble, magnificent, and
suffering animals.
Click here to read the
letter from Animal Awareness to the Honorable
Mayor Ellen Moyer of Annapolis encouraging her to ban all animal
acts in Annapolis Maryland. Please write to her expressing your support
of this ban.
Zoos
Some modern zoos are starting to realize that animals need to be kept
in naturalistic habitats, though many zoos (even modern zoos) still
have enclosures dating back to the 1920-30's and even the 1800's.
The nation's zoo in DC is one such zoo with exhibits dating back that
long. Some zoos make an effort to keep families together after babies
are born, but more often those zoo babies are sold off once they are
no longer small, cute, and a huge public draw. Sometimes these grown
up zoo babies are indirectly sold to testing facilities and even canned
hunting where the rich can shoot and kill a wild animal in a fenced
area in the name of sport.
Some zoos have conflicting policies within themselves. For example,
the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC has a very progressive
Think Tank exhibit that discusses animals as living beings capable
of complex thought evidenced by tool-use, language, and social structure.
The National Zoo also has a plan for a new 7-acre outdoor area for
the elephants to walk around in, which could be a wonderful model
to other zoos. But despite their sometimes forward-thinking exhibit
ideas, they are in the process of building a drastically inaccurate
Kids' Farm that could set back public education about food production
by decades since they will show modern farming as depicted through
fairytale imagery.
The new Kids' Farm will discuss animals as being a product that is
bought and sold instead of discussing the animals as living beings
or discussing their habitat as they do in the rest of the zoo. After
all they wouldn't talk about "how fashionable an alligator skin purse
is" right next to the alligator's exhibit. And, they certainly wouldn't
talk about "what a delicacy panda bear meat can be" right next to
the panda bears. So why on earth would they feel comfortable discussing
chickens and cows in such a way at their new upcoming exhibit?
The directors of the zoo say that they are going to discuss where
our food comes from as a children's exhibit complete with the images
taken from fairytales. The sad fact is that the overwhelming majority
of our food comes from factory farming. If they portray factory farming
with happy fairytale images, they will be misleading the public. When
asked about this, the zoo's associate director (at the time) Ben Beck
said, "I agree that the public may leave there and infer that
farm animals are treated the same as those at the zoo, which will
be well cared for."
The only way to accurately depict factory farming is to show:
- 4-5 hens crammed into a 15-inch battery cage with their beaks
cut off to explain where eggs come from.
- A dairy cow with a painfully infected utter 10 times larger
than normal to show where milk comes from.
- Dairy cow babies taken away at birth and forced to live in a
veal crate not much bigger than their body and deprived of iron
to show where "the other white meat" veal comes
from.
- Sows living a lifetime in a gestation crate unable to move around
to show where pork comes from.
- And, of course there's the horrors of the slaughter where
not all animals have been rendered unconscious first before they
are boiled and skinned.
Obviously showing the horrible truth behind where our food comes from
is not appropriate material for a children's exhibit. Therefore, they
should have a different exhibit; one where they don't have to lie
or misrepresent the facts just to make it suitable material for kids.
Education isn't about wanting something to be true; it's about
teaching what is already true.
Click here to read the entire Animal
Awareness case against the Smithsonian National Zoological Park's
proposed new exhibit, Kids' Farm.
Send a polite letter
to the National Zoo letting them know that construction of the
Kid's Farm needs to be stopped because the only accurate way to portray
factory farming is not appropriate material for a child. Adding
such a controversial exhibit would expose the zoo to negative attention
because of misleading content of the Kid's Farm and the great potential
for disease transmission, such as e-coli.
E-Coli: CONTROVERSY
SURROUNDING PETTING ZOOS
Disease transmission and illness is a risk whenever humans get too
close to dried manure particles of farm animals, which is carried
by the wind.
Having humans around animals poses numerous health risk, which a zoo
is obviously aware about. But, farm animals add many more potential
diseases than the others. This is especially true since the exhibit
was unplanned and will be confined to a small corner of the zoo where
room for pedestrian traffic will be a problem. As mentioned in the
many articles (below) about e-coli and other diseases transmitted
by farm animals and their enclosures, illnesses can occur in many
ways. airborne illnesses from dried manure, contaminated water runoff,
and many others. Any sort of petting-zoo is particularly hazardous.
Many zoos and fairs with farm animals have been sued and have received
negative public relations (PR) due to the constant spread of disease.
Articles linking e-coli illnesses to petting zoos:
ABC News: E.
Coli at Petting Zoo
CNN: CDC
targets E. coli contamination at petting zoos
CNN: Children
infected with E. coli at petting zoo, officials say
CNN: Nineteen
children sickened - 1 E. coli case confirmed
Eurosurveillance Weekly:
Infection Risks from Contact with Farm Animals and Poultry
Journal Sentinel: Suspected
cases of E. coli multiply
Newfoundland & Labrador Agriculture:
Health Risks from Handling Animals (1): Livestock Owners
Times Herald: Health
department blamed for delay in E. coli report
Times Herald: 9
more E. coli cases suspected
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