I’ve been livin’ on the fringe here lately. Breakin’ the law. Rebel with a cause. And generally, though it is not my true intent, I am royally pissing folks off.
I am a burgeoning animal activist. I classify myself a beginner simply because, while I do feel the call to take a public, proactive stand, I have not yet had the resources nor the time to spend an afternoon or more in loud protestation.
What has spurred me on so? Those who have read my earlier columns will recall the article I wrote promoting vegetarianism. Though I am still very involvedin this issue, a new concern has forced itself upon me. What has really disturbed me of late is the numerous traveling animal circuses that have rolled through our region.
I can almost see the rolling eyes and hear the muttered “Give me a break” rolling off of people’s tongues. Defenses go up and my words fall on deafened ears.
“What’s wrong with circuses? I like to see the animals perform,” one fellow student told me dismissively. I tried to explain, very professionally, exactly why I oppose the use of domestic and exotic animals in circuses. He made it a point to pat his belly on the way out of class and exclaim, “Man, I’m starved. I think I’ll go grab a big, bloody burger and watch tigers jump through flaming hoops.”
It makes me feel like I’m banging my head against a brick wall, protesting animal abuse in eastern Tennessee.
This region has a very good reason for banning such medieval practices – such as the incidentin the1920s or 1930swhere an elephant finally snapped in Erwin and went on a rampage. According to the story, the enraged animal had finally had enough torture and exploded under the big top,killing either his/her trainer and/or maybe a child in the area, finally dying a slow, undignified deathat the unforgiving hands of the townspeople who had paid to see its misery. The vengeful Erwinians did not merely want the elephant’s blood. They wanted its suffering. And so, not content with an easy death, they went to the trouble to find a crane – yes, a damn CRANE – and they hung the elephant.
They even painted a picture of the scene on the side of a building and named an antique store after it. I saw it a year or so ago. It was extremely unsettling, as if it were something to be proud of.
Curious enough, people will argue that animals have no feelings, whether physical or emotional, but they will go to great lengths to dole out vigilante justice to the same creatures.
I will not tread lightly here. Circuses are wrong. Period. It is unethical and immoral to force sentient beings to perform unnatural acts under the constant threat of pain and fear. How many bears do you see pedaling awkwardly along on a tricycle in the woods? How many tigers would jump through flames just for the hell of it, going against every survival instinct in its body?
Ifail to see the justification in the comment, “Well, the animals probably do have a crappy life, but my 2-year old has her heart set on seeing the circus.” Is it really beneficialto a young child’s mind to see animals subjugated to suchindignifiedspectacles? What would you do if an animal snapped, and there was no way to protect your baby from a raging adult tiger, bear or elephant?
The trainers do not use the “positive training methods” that they often claim to. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has documented an ungodly number of indiscrepencies under the big top. Hidden cameras show animal care director of Carson and Barnes circus Tim Frisco “attacking, screaming obscenities at and electro-shocking endangered Asian elephants.” He instructs the fledgling elephant trainers to sink the bullhooks (a rod with a sharp, curved end) into the vulnerable flesh of their feet, under their chin and behind their ears. He shrieks, “Make them scream! Tear that foot off! Sink that bullhook in! When he starts f—ing around too much, sink in that hook and give it everything you’ve got!”
One of Frisco’s elephants, Janet, ran amok in a 1992 Florida performance, injuring 12 people before the police shot her down.
Ringling Brothers and Shriner-leased circuses are no better. The list of shocking cruelty cases are too numerous to print here. Government inspectors have cited them for failure to provide adequate space and exercise and nearly roasting the animals in boxcars lacking air conditioning.
Two Barnum and Bailey tigers injured themselves while trying to escape from intolerably hot cages. A caged tiger was gunned down by a SWAT team after it killed its trainer. A wild-caught sea lion was found dead in her transport carrier. A horse with a chronic medical condition died on a forced Ringling Brothers march. The human casualties, be they innocent children and spectators or abusive trainers, are just as staggering.
In Saturday’s Johnson City Press, a Ms. Teresa McKay wrote to protest the appearance of The Royal Hanneford Circus in Johnson City on Oct. 19, 20 and 21. Not only has the circus violated government regulations concerning animal care, she pointed out, but two of their elephants, Ina and Chandra, have tested positive for tuberculosis. As a respiratory therapist, she reassured the reader that yes, this disease is very transmittable to humans.
Good for you, Teresa. Right on, sister soldier. I only wish that the weekend in question wasn’t on Hotoberfest weekend, a music festival that I have planned to attend for a year.
Back in August, a circus came to Greeneville, where I live. The posters were everywhere. So I made some of my own, to be put up right next to them. My posters featured a cartoon of a lion whipping a naked trainer, who is flinching. In big letters, my boyfriend and I wrote, “Will You Pay To See This? Support Conservation, Not Exploitation.” I also included “Visit www.peta.org.” I thought it sent a pretty clear message.
Well, of course most of the posters got torn down. I had anticipated such. I hadn’t anticipated how extremely depressing it was going to be to try to get the word out to people and for so many to be so angry that I thought it was wrong. Or for so many simply apathetic responses.
I tore down the circus posters whenever I thought I could get away with it – in the laundromat, at grocery stores, even in a crowded Italian restaurant. I stuffed the free child’s tickets in my pockets, which were, by the way, pathetic ruses to drag parents into the show after the children grasped freebies.
My heart would race and my eyes would dart around, expecting confrontation. I felt like it was war. I had to do it. It was my mission. My plan was to stand outside on show day and hand out information. I would have liked to dress up in stripes and cage myself. But the fact was that I was sadly unprepared, both mentally, financially, and in resources,to undertake such a campaign. My boyfriend stood behind me all the way, but there were precious few others that would. I did recruit a friend into stealing tickets for me. Every little bit helped.
My friend’s husband turned to her and asked, “Is there something wrong with Meg?”
Not a thing, honey. I feel like I’m one of the few in the right. But people want to characterize me as a tree-huggin’ loon. It’s easier to deal with a radical this way, instead of having to think about what they’re fighting for or against.
In the end, I came away with the sour taste of defeat in my mouth. But I am not totally defeated, even if I can’t protest at this upcoming circus. I will be gearing up in the coming year for all-out war on circuses in East Tennessee. If I can accomplish banning them, I will indeed cage myself and do other such foolish things, if only to catch people’s attention. People know that circuses are wrong. It just makes them uncomfortable to think about it, much less do anything about it.
There is no way that I can cover all the atrocities of this underground world that I would like to here. I encourage all my readers to visit PETA’s web site, www.peta.org.
See you on the picket line, friends.

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