Nothing is Ever Truly “For Free”

It’s so ‘great’ that when the circus comes through Winnipeg, the organizers give away the tickets to fill the seats. Profits are made from the over-priced souvenirs and food stands. Every major business is mailed upwards of hundreds of tickets to provide to their employees. What is worrisome is the fact that thousands of free tickets or discount coupons are pushed into the hands of children through our local school boards and individual schools. How did this become acceptable? Why are parents not questioning the fact that schools are promoting animal cruelty under the guise of providing entertainment for children?

Elephants tend to be the star attraction for circuses. These animals are among the most social of all mammals, due to having the largest brain. In the wild, elephants live for more than 70 years staying together in close intricate family structures. Females stay with their mothers their entire lives and according to behaviourists, elephants even cry. I myself have witnessed elephants mourn a deceased ‘family’ member.

All manner of wild animals from lions, tigers, elephants, camels even kangaroos are removed from their mothers to be trained for the circus. It takes considerable force and abusive training practices to get wild animals to perform. Bears have their noses broken or paws burnt to get them to stand on their hind legs. Tigers and lions perform from fear of pain and spend 23 to 24 hours a day in a cage the size of the average kitchen table. Performing elephants are beaten and electrically shocked to break them and are chained 90% of their life. All these circus animals are transported by semi-trailer or rail cars, often in extreme heat or cold and with no access to water. We know this first hand from former wild animal trainers that have come forward with shocking reports and undercover videos that document the abuse and beatings.

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is currently on trial in U.S. District Court on charges for abusing their Asian elephants, in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. During questioning, Feld Entertainment Chairman/Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Feld said the circus probably couldn’t have elephants without the bull hooks and chains. He said the prods and restraints are needed to protect the safety of his staff and the public. Rightly so Mr. Feld. In September 2008, Mexican officials seized 12 circus animals after an elephant escaped from a circus and wandered onto a highway. It was struck and killed by a bus carrying 41 passengers. The driver of the bus also died.

Some people say that taking children to see these animals in a circus will be their only chance to experience a wild animal. Other than their size, colour and shape, children watching circus animals perform ridiculous tricks teaches them nothing about their natural behaviour or roles in their ecosystems. Psychologists even warn that watching animals being hit, prodded, injured and humiliated for entertainment purposes desensitizes children to the suffering of others. Doctors warn that allowing your child to ride an elephant puts them at risk of contacting tuberculosis. Many circus elephants test positive for a strain of tuberculosis that is contagious to humans.

The archaic exploitation of using wild animals in circuses must be put to an end. Twenty-eight Canadian cities and municipalities prohibit wild animal acts. Jane Goodall said it best; “Almost all trainers admit to breaking their performers during training. In some cases the abuse is horrendous. To see an elephant, so utterly majestic in nature, being forced to sit  on a little tub, is an abomination.”

Those free circus tickets given to children at school are not an educational opportunity the school board should be advocating. The circus should not be on any school’s approved field trip list. If children really knew what happens in the ring is not the same thing that happens before the show, they would not want to “step right up and get their tickets”. The tickets may be ‘free’, but these circus animals are not.

Take action

Contact your school board trustee (www.mast.mb.ca in Manitoba) or local school principals. Let them know you do not support the free or discounted circus tickets being passed out at the school level. Educate you and your family about the welfare of wild and exotic animals used in the entertainment industry. Only attend animal free circuses.