Bears, elephants, tigers, and other animals do not voluntarily ride bicycles, stand on their heads, balance on balls, or jump through rings of fire. They don't perform these and other difficult tricks because they want to; they perform them because they're afraid of what will happen if they don't.
For animals in circuses, there is no such thing as "positive reinforcement"%u2014only varying degrees of punishment and deprivation. To force them to perform these meaningless and physically uncomfortable tricks, trainers use whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks, and other painful tools of the trade.
In the Ringling Bros. circus, elephants are beaten, hit, poked, prodded, and jabbed with sharp hooks, sometimes until bloody. Ringling breaks the spirit of elephants when they're vulnerable babies who should still be with their mothers. Unsuspecting parents planning a family trip to the circus don't know about the violent training sessions with ropes, bullhooks, and electric shock prods that elephants endure. Heartbreaking photos reveal how Ringling Bros. circus trainers cruelly force baby elephants to learn tricks, and it's not through a reward system, as they claim.
Eye Witness: http://www.livinggallery.cc/ELEPHANT-LETTER%20FROM%20CIRCUS%20EMPLOYEE.htm
(For more information click http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/Circuses.aspx )
As you can see, over a thousand people have signed the petition against your ways of treating circus animals! I am writing to explain that the behavior of both Carson & Barnes Circus and Ringling Bros is horrendous and inhumane.
Animals should not be treated as slaves. They are innocent creatures who have done nothing but work in fear. The fear to be whipped, to be chocked with tight collars, to bleed from the jabs of hooks. Their whole life is a fear.
There is no need to torture animals for the entertainment of humans. People forget going, but elephants never do. An hours entertainment for your viewers is a lifetime of horrific memories for an elephant. A circus can be just as successful, if not more successful without involving animals.
I, and many other plead you to stop the ways of your torture to the calves and adult elephants. We hope for your consideration, and thank you for taking your time reading our petition.
