End Animal Circuses

The animal circus dates back to the 19th century, when the first elephant was brought to the public's eye, and even now, two hundred years later, man kind is still exploiting animals for amusement and entertainment.  Lions, tigers, bears and every other majestic animal is snatched from the wild and forced to perform tricks to make us laugh.  The animals spend over twenty hours a day, every day, trapped in their cages.

Elephants are forced to spend every day chained by their front leg, standing on a wooden board in a tent. These chains only allow them to drag their feet a step or two backwards or forwards. Being kept in these conditions causes stress, frustration and leads to unusual behaviours such as rocking, swaying back and forth and nodding. The baby elephant in this picture is being pulled by the legs and trunk in order to "train" it to lie down.

Wild cats spend their whole lives cramped in mobile cages. They repeatedly pace up and down their "beast wagons" No matter how fun and entertaining the public believe the circus to be, training ALWAYS takes place behind closed doors. Screws and nails are hidden in the bottom of walking sticks, spikes concealed in tasseled sticks. The standard tools of the circus industry are bullhooks and other items to poke, scrap, strike, give electric shocks, and beat animals in order to "train" them.

Some ex circus trainers have spoken out, to reveal the cruel techniques used to break and train elephants.

'Sadie just could not grasp what we were trying to show her. In frustration she attempted to run out of the ring. We brought her back and began to punish her for being so stupid. We stopped suddenly, and looked at each other, unable to speak. Sadie was crying like a human being. She lay there on her side, the tears streaming down her face and sobs racking her huge body'.

Another ex circus employee gave an account of how a little brown bear was abusively treated.

'She was a sweet little innocent brown bear who never hurt anyone... but sometimes she had trouble balancing on the high wire. She was then beaten with long metal rods until she was screaming and bloody. She became so neurotic that she would beat her head against her small cage. She finally died'

Some bears have their front paws burnt forcing them to stand on their hind legs. Their mouths are muzzled so they cannot attack their trainer. A ring is then put through their nose with a chain attached. This is to force them to perform tricks such as, riding bikes and unicycles on the high wire as well as dancing. Pulling on the chain causes them excruciating pain, so they have no choice but to co-operate.

We DO NOT have the right to use and abuse animals for OUR entertainment.