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exotic animal entertainment

No to Circuses, No to Exotic Animal Entertainment

A friend of mine showed me this disturbing photo today. I couldn’t believe it. It was so awful. Then I Googled it to understand better and learned that this is the photo of a real event that occurred back in 1993 in Hawaii to an elephant called ‘Tyke’ that unfortunately was stuck living and ‘working’ for Circus International.

Tyke, an elephant that was forced into slave labor at a violent circus and then murdered.

Tyke, an elephant that was forced into slave labor at a violent circus and then murdered.

Animals do not get to choose who they work for. They cannot even speak for themselves or make any decisions regarding ‘employment.’ They don’t get paid either! They work for free and human beings profit off them. They live at our mercy. I am appalled when I hear stories of human cruelty to animals. I think all circuses with animals should be banned and all exotic animal entertainment should be illegal immediately. We live in a time where there is such massive species decline. It is morally reprehensible to treat animals in such a way. They have no choice and live in fear of being beaten and enduring extreme violence. So sad!

This event happened many years ago and this poor elephant had no one to save her. She had endured 12 years of ongoing violence and cruelty from her trainer and circus staff! Of course the circus called her ‘rebellious’ to defend themselves, but can you imagine any human being patiently enduring such violence? A person stuck in such a situation, would go crazy and be quite violent, don’t you think?

Tyke trampled the trainer before escaping. The trainer was found later to have cocaine and alcohol in his system. There were numerous complaints against him for animal violence at his prior jobs yet he was allowed to whip and torture this animal (and others) without any oversight or accountability? Any ‘trainer’ who needs to beat, whip, and torture an animal into submission is no trainer at all!

After running through the street, this poor elephant was shot so many times by the police that she collapsed and died a painful death on the pavement. The circus and its employees were never held responsible.

Elephants in circuses are in chains 90 percent of the time or more! Their entire lives in circuses are in cramped, dingy quarters. Their lives do not have any resemblance to their actual lives in their natural habitats where they typically enjoy freedom of movement and can walk 25 to 50 miles a day. Most elephants are social too. In circuses, they are kept alone and in chains! What a horror!

They are mercilessly beaten, tortured, and forced to do idiotic tricks!

All circuses that have ‘live’ animal entertainment should shut down and having animals in their acts should be illegal. It is barbaric. Here is a list of circuses today that still have live animals including elephants. All of them should stop having animals immediately.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Kelly Miller Circus
UniverSoul Circus
Cole Bros. Circus of the Stars
Carson & Barnes

Shut them down!

If you want to have a circus with just people doing live entertainment — go for it. Just don’t stick animals into these shows. They don’t get a choice and they suffer. No animal wants to be in a circus. If you really care about animals, build a place for them to live naturally since human beings have taken over most of the land they have inhabited and every area today is practically a “danger zone” for animals where they are killed without a second thought.

No animal wants to be in a circus.

A bill was introduced in California in 1999 https://bit.ly/2EeyvQF  but did not pass. Objections came from circuses such as Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, Kelly Miller Circus and other for-profit companies that benefit from free animal labor. Who defends live animal entertainment? Only the folks profiting. Animals would rather live in a preserve or park.

All these circuses and places with 'live animal entertainment' should shut down all their live animal entertainment immediately and be held accountable. Then for their decades of profit off the backs of innocent animals, they need to pay for animal sanctuaries and parks to be built. They basically got free labor. Pay up.