The circus is coming to town.
Oh, joy. Torture, animosity and scandal can’t be far behind.
The Shrine Circus is set to perform in the Tri-Cities this coming weekend, and I just can’t help be nonplussed.
Why would anyone still go to the circus? I mean forget the scary clown makeup and stale popcorn, why would anyone pay to see the disgusting excuse for entertainment that is animal torture?
It’s one thing to watch guys in big shoes do stupid tricks, but why subject a magnificent creature like an elephant or tiger to such torment. Why dress a bear in a tutu and force him to dance, when humans do it so much more gracefully?
What’s the appeal of watching a man with a bullwhip stick his head in a lion’s mouth, knowing full well the only reason the man will live is because the cat has been subjected to so much abuse he wouldn’t dare follow his natural instinct to bite down?
Maybe the idea is it’s fun to see animals doing silly things. Maybe it’s just the appeal of being so close to such wild creatures. Maybe it’s just ignorance.
I won’t lie; I’ve been to the circus. Of course I was five years old and didn’t have any comprehension of what goes on outside the tent and on the road. Would I go to the circus this day and age? Hell no. Not any circus with “trained” animals that is.
Elephants used in circuses are often taken from the wild, away from their families, chained and abused into submission.
In 2000, 60 free-roaming Asian elephants were slaughtered by poachers so their young could be sold to circuses, despite claims by circuses that showing elephants will help preserve the species. “The still-nursing elephants, all under the age of 3, refused to abandon their dead mothers, even attempting to suckle from their corpses,” says www.circuses.com.
Talk about a crappy start to a crappy life.
Often circus animals will either die from inadequate treatment or will lash out and harm, or kill, humans around them. I’m fairly sure that in an area all too familiar with the Erwin “elephant gone crazy, let’s hang it from a crane” incident this fact should not be too surprising.
In fact, since 1990, almost 60 people have been killed by captive elephants and more than 120 seriously injured.
These poor animals are wrought with crippling injuries from performing unnatural actions all the time and being constantly chained. Many circus elephants spend 96 percent of their time chained. As if the chains weren’t bad enough, “training” consists of electric prodding and attacks with bull hooks by so-called “keepers.”
Many of these men are little more than sadists hell-bent on making the animals suffer and scream if they do not obey orders and perform ridiculous tricks.
The horrific training devices are used on other circus animals as well, including tigers, bears, monkeys and lions – all in order to force them to perform tricks they don’t comprehend. Nature does not expect cats to jump through fiery hoops or bears to dance on platforms. These are man-made amusements, created to please a public willing to shell out money without having a clue about what it takes to get the animals so docile.
And if in the ring is bad, outside is worse. Animals in traveling circuses – especially those like Ringling Brothers – are subjected to 11 months (or longer) of non-stop travel, covering 25,000 miles and performing almost daily. The animals are kept in tiny enclosures when not performing or training; requiring eating, sleeping and defecating be done in the same space.
It sounds like something that can’t happen in today’s world, but due to inadequate and poorly enforced laws surrounding traveling circus animals, it happens all the time. What few guidelines are written are often ignored. Animals get the minimum in food, shelter and veterinary care – if that much.
Many animals are kept in cages barely large enough to stand up in, and sometimes two animals are kept per cage. Tigers are often paired in cages 4 feet in height and 7 feet in length. And this isn’t just for travel, they are usually kept in there when not performing as well, leaving them free to walk and stretch only during training and show time.
The Siegfried and Roy white tiger, Montecore, is an example of a captive animal pushed too far by the entertainment industry. Luckily, the tiger was not put down due to Roy Horn’s insistence, though that is not usually the case in those situations.
Despite claims that montecore was trying to “help Roy offstage” the truth is the cat had had enough. A Las Vegas show is not the same as a circus, but the concept of animal mistreatment is the same.
However, through all the fog of circus sucky-ness, there is a glimmer of hope. New performance artists are taking note of the abuse of animals in entertainment and leaving them out of the show. For now the trend in human circuses seems to be, like so many other good trends, invading America from Europe.
Cirque du Soleil, the model circuses should be following, is a human only spectacle, showcasing the skills of everything from synchronized swimmers to gymnastic feats that make Olympiads look like wieners. There are eleven different shows, located around the globe, all with different themes. Las Vegas alone has four, including a risqu adult-themed show. Disney World has La Nouba and the others are traveling shows that tour globally. One of the touring shows, Varekai, will be in Charlotte, N.C., from Oct. 28-Nov. 20, and I suggest if you have the funds you should go check it out. I’m thinking early Christmas present myself.
In August, I had the pleasure of seeing a similar act at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va. Imaginique was the highlight of the trip, and Chris and I walked away amazed.
Frankly, I saw things I didn’t believe possible that evening, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. I can, without a doubt, say that watching humans perform such incredible tasks was a million times better than watching elephants parade around a ring, or tigers roar on command.
So if you or anyone you know was planning to head out to the Shrine Circus this weekend, I recommend saving your money and give the animals a break.
Put those dollars away until later this month and take a mini-vacation to North Carolina to see some breathtaking performers who are showing off because they want to – rather than because they’re forced to.
For more information on circuses that use animals and why they should be abolished, please check out www.circuses.com. To see what all this crazy, human circus fuss is about, and to find out about tickets to the show in Charlotte, please visit www.cirquedusoleil.com.
And as always, let me know what you think at mohawktown@hotmail.com or etnews@etsu.edu.
Anyone who is interested in being a member of the new Student Organization for Animal Rights but couldn’t make it to the meeting, please e-mail me at the Mohawktown address and let me know.

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