Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The life of a circus animal....




Living conditions: Most animals used in the circus are meant to live in the wild. Instead of their natural habitats where they would roam free and live on their natural instincts, they are forced to live and travel in cramped quarters far smaller than their habitats in the wild. They are often forced to eat, sleep and even defecate in the same place. Circuses travel to many locations and water is limited in some locations, bathing and cleaning the animals living quarters is given low priority where water is limited. Unfortunately, this limitation extends to their drinking water as well.

Elephants are kept with their feet chained down for long periods of time. Baby elephants are prematurely removed from their mothers for the purpose of early training. They are tied with ropes, which leads to rope burn. Many circuses give no consideration to climate and the animals are exposed to extreme heat or cold. In addition, their diets do not consist of what they would naturally and they are sometimes underfed in the interest of getting an ideal performance. Disease is common among circus animals. Veterinarians qualified to treat exotic animals are not always present and circus animals frequently suffer inadequate veterinary care.

Training: Ever wonder how circuses manage to get the animals to perform so well? Animals do not perform the acts you see in the circus naturally. They have to be trained, often by extreme methods. They are traumatized in to obeying their human ‘trainers” commands. Bull hooks are often driven in to the tender areas of an elephant’s body to make it cooperate. Electric shock, whips, baseball bats and pipes are also among the methods used to force the animals to cooperate in training. Some animals are kept muzzled to subdue them and discourage them from defending themselves if they feel threatened. Some animals are drugged to make them manageable and some have their teeth removed. Some bears have had their paws burned to force them to stand on their hind legs.


Mental distress: the combination of the above circumstances and other factors lead to mental distress in circus animals. There have been many cases of animals attacking humans and escaping.
Since 1990, attacks by captive big cats have resulted in 46 humans deaths and the killing of 70 big cats Since 1990, 13 humans have been killed by captive bears. 8 of them were children. Attacks have also resulted in 26 bears being killed Since 1990, attacks by captive primates have resulted in 2 humans deaths, 130 human injuries, and the killing of 450 primates. Since 1990, 57 people have been killed by captive elephants.120 people were injured.

When you think about how they are treated, can you blame them for attacking? What must they think of humans? They don’t ask for the miserable lifestyle circus performance subjects them to
“Retirement” for circus animals: Animals with many other forms of animal “entertainment”, once the animal can no longer perform, it is not much value to the circus. They may be permanently caged, sold to a game farm to be hunted, or sold to a lab. What you can do

DON’T visit circuses that have animals. There are a number of cruelty free circuses that only display human acts. For a list of cruelty free circuses, please visit Circuses that do not use animal acts.
Lawfully protest circuses that contain animal acts. Educate potential visitors about what really goes on in some circuses. Urge local animal control and the humane society to carefully monitor the care and treatment of animals when a circus with animals comes to your area. Urge lawmakers to ban animal entertainment acts and show your support for those that do.

9 comments:

فاوزيا ........ said...

yeah !
I agreed with you..

Asmi's Journal said...

Oh Allah! I really feel for those poor animals. Reading this brings so much pain to my heart (which means u've done a great job on this article :) ) And people pay for the circuses to go and have a good laugh at the animals performing tricks. It's so sad.

Btw, I love your blog's new look and the header picture is just awesome!!!

Asmi's Journal said...

Oh, sorry I also wanted to say that the Quran recitation is so touching. May you get rewards for every Quran word that your readers hear at your blog.

And the words on the header picture would be clearer if you changed their colour, no?

Love,
Quick

Rene´s Bare Essentials said...

salaam alaikum,

Thanks for your comments! Quick, do you know how to change the color on the header? I was trying to play around with it but wasnt sure how to change it.... Ill try again, inshaAllah ill figure it out. When i read about animal cruelty or hear about it on the news my heart breaks and i feel so sad. Animals unlike humans are helpless and yet so many people treat them horribly! Allah even rewards us for being kind to animals, they are part of his creation, and yet so many people see them as objects to abuse! =(

Lazeena Umm Yusuf said...

subhanAllah sis, I never put deep though into circus animals. I never go, but I never put it into perspective that this is what their lives must be like =/

Asmi's Journal said...

Here's how you can change the colour, Thirst For Knowledge;
After signing into your blog, click on "Customize" (on the top right hand corner). Then where there is "Posting, Settings, Layout", click on "Layout". Under layout, you'll have "Page elements, Fonts and Colours, Edit html, etc". Of these, select "Fonts and colours". From here, you'll find a little scroll bar on the left which has "Text colour, Blog title colour, Blog description colour, etc..." So all you have to do is click on "Blog title colour" and "Blog description colour" and change their colours.

Hope this helps! :)

Asmi's Journal said...

Oh gosh, I'm so blind! I'm sorry I didn't realise you'd already done that...*bangs head on wall* *Ouch*

Sacrifice4Allah said...

The lives of these animals have been played with and it really makes me sad. JazakaAllah khair for bringing animal welfare to the forefront. MashaAllah, it's always a pleasure to visit your blog!

Yasemin said...

Salaam Alyakum Sister,

This is exactly why we are so lucky to know Islam. Animals are treated with care, and you would never see the slaughterhouse mentality of North America with halal animals.

I will never again return to the circus after reading this. We need to boycott it, much as we should boycott Israel. That picture breaks my heart. Love you!