Thread: is it ethical to have animals in circuses?

So animals enjoy human attention, and - from what I hear. I could be mistaken - it is getting harder to mistreat animals nowadays. If you abolish animals in Circuses (and this will include horses, monkeys and clowns ( )) then why not ban public Zoos?

How do the Elephants suffer, though? From their handlers or from the crowed?

Originally Posted by Keeper

So animals enjoy human attention, and - from what I hear. I could be mistaken - it is getting harder to mistreat animals nowadays. If you abolish animals in Circuses (and this will include horses, monkeys and clowns ( )) then why not ban public Zoos?

How do the Elephants suffer, though? From their handlers or from the crowed?

Check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMdi52SD6LU

Elephants are highly complex, social animals who live in extended family groups and travel over thirty miles a day. Today's zoos are unable to meet the physical and social needs of elephants. These needs include space, adequate exercise, and extended social groups.

*Elephants in zoos suffer from captivity-induced physical and psychological health problems due to lack of space. Health problems include debilitating foot and joint problems, arthritis, digestive disorders, stereotypic behaviors (neurotic behaviors resulting from severe confinement). Other problems include reproductive system shutdown (flatliners), and high infant mortality rate.

*The AZA, a zoo industry trade organization, provides a set of standards that are insufficient for the proper maintenance of elephants. These standards include a minimum outdoor enclosure size of 1,800 square feet for one elephant, the equivalent of six parking lot spaces. The standards also allow the prolonged chaining of elephants.

*As the largest land mammal, elephants are genetically designed to move and forage most of the day; this constant movement is necessary for their psychological and physical well-being.

*Zoos routinely move elephants, and other animals, from one zoo to another with little to no consideration for their social bonds. In the wild female elephants never leave their mothers and male elephants have complex social structures with other bulls and females. No elephant in the wild lives in constant solitary confinement

ban Elephants from them.

No, it is not ethical. Animals shouldn't be used for entertainment, not elephants or big cats either, or any of them. Boycott circuses.

I don't like circuses anyway.

I agree Mooney!

What about the zoo?

What's is the plural form of zoo? zoos? zooses

:lol @ "zooses" That's like "all y'all"

Cirque du Soleil don't use animals.

Originally Posted by Moonbeam

No, it is not ethical. Animals shouldn't be used for entertainment, not elephants or big cats either, or any of them. Boycott circuses.

I agree.

Originally Posted by Howie

I agree Mooney!

What about the zoo?

What's is the plural form of zoo? zoos? zooses

Hmm zoos? http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_th..._word_'zoo'

i have no idea wot its like at a circus coz i have a major fear ov clowns so i cant go incase 1 pops out lol.. but as long as the animals r being treated properly i dont see a problem

I don't feel it is very ethical to have animals in captivity if they have not been domesticated already. I'm talking food animals, and other animals we use to generate some commodity, labor animals, and pets. Even for these I think it is important to give them certain liberties, and comforts. It is especially important to give mind to the more intelligent and social animals, as it takes more to make them content.

The lines are too blurry, and too subjective when it comes to animals in captivity, but in the case of entertainment, I don't think it is fair to keep an animal in captivity. There is no doubt that in such a setting, the animal is deprived of something it would otherwise have in its natural setting, and to deprive an animal of anything for the sake of entertainment is unfair. That means circuses really aren't ethical, and zoos that don't do research that can't be done in the wild, or doesn't benefit animal populations, shouldn't exist in my opinion.

I'm not too much into the animals having to perform at circuses but zoos I think are fine since they're not really for entertainment as much as they are for just getting close the animals without actually having to travel to some far away place on a safari or something.

Thanks Xox

Originally Posted by Moonbeam

No, it is not ethical. Animals shouldn't be used for entertainment, not elephants or big cats either, or any of them. Boycott circuses.

Pets are for our entertainment.

I hate circuses with animals and I hate zoos. Both should be banned. No, I'm not some crazy vegan. In fact, I'm as carnivorous as they get. But I prefer my meat to have lived a happy life. Point being: if it's not domesticated, let it be free.