Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The cruelty of the circus
From the RoundTable blog
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Christy Sherman
Sherman is a Roanoke resident and anesthesiologist with Anesthesiology Consultants of Virginia.
On Friday, the Kazim Shrine Circus will return to Roanoke, perpetuating an illusion of fun and lighthearted enjoyment. However, hidden behind the smoke and mirrors of the acts are significant dangers to its spectators and a grave degree of cruelty to its animals.
Using wild animals to entertain people jeopardizes public safety. Since 1990, 57 people have been killed and more than 120 seriously injured by captive elephants alone. Elephants are not the only dangerous animals used by Shrine Circuses. In 2004, a circus-goer attending the Shrine Circus in Evansville, Ind., was hospitalized after being bitten on the face by a chimpanzee. A tiger that had been walked on a leash near children during Shrine circuses later killed two handlers. And a bear with the Grand Rapids Shrine circus bit off part of a child's finger.
Animals in circuses suffer stress, neglect, isolation and deliberate abuse. They are beaten, they live in chains and they suffer from untreated injuries, illness and loneliness. Former circus workers describe elephants who are so terrified of their trainers that they begin urinating, defecating and trumpeting in fear at the sound of their voices.
Video taken during one undercover investigation revealed the animal care director viciously attacking, yelling at and shocking elephants. On video, he instructed other trainers to beat the elephants with a bullhook as hard as they could and to sink the sharp metal hook into the animal's flesh and twist it back and forth until they scream in pain.
Circuses are required to be licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, whose job it is to enforce the federal Animal Welfare Act. However, the AWA establishes only minimal guidelines that are often ignored. The AWA does not even prohibit the use of bullhooks, whips or shock devices, which all cause considerable pain and suffering.
With only about 100 USDA inspectors and nearly 10,000 facilities, many animal exhibitors are rarely subject to inspection. And there is no monitoring of training sessions or transport, which is where the majority of abuses occur.
Like most circuses, the George Carden Circus, which the Roanoke Shriners are again sponsoring this year, has a long list of noncompliance with the AWA. Among other things, this list includes failure to provide veterinary care for open wounds inflicted by bullhooks and other tools of the trade, undersized and filthy cages, and use of abusive training tactics.
Not only do circus animals endure brutal training but they also endure lives of constant confinement. They are kept in chains or small cages up to 22 hours a day, and are forced to eat, drink, sleep, defecate and urinate in the same cages. They are hauled around the country in cramped boxcars or trailers for up to 50 weeks a year in all kinds of extreme weather.
Such confinement has very harmful psychological effects on animals as evidenced by commonly seen stress behaviors such as head-bobbing, biting cage bars, swaying and pacing. This is no kind of life for a wild animal.
Fortunately, attendance is declining at traditional circuses, and the number of animal-free circuses, such as Cirque du Soleil, has exploded. The use of animals in entertainment has already been restricted or banned in several U.S. and international cities.
In light of the public's increasing distaste of traditional circuses, bringing a circus to Roanoke that uses only willing human performers to put on infinitely more sophisticated and entertaining shows would certainly be a more effective and humane means to raise funds for the Shriners' noble causes.
