why circus animal suffer -
some simple facts

NOTE: For an expanded commentary about the suffering of performing animals, please click here .

The circus "beast wagon"

Because of the nature of travelling shows, namely that they are in the business of travelling, most performing animals spend their lives in small, barren transport cages known as beast wagons. Lions, tigers, leopards, bears, chimpanzees, orangutans and many other animals are routinely kept in beast wagons. Their cages are often so small (many measuring just 4-5 feet wide by 8-10 feet long) that it is difficult for the animals they contain to simply turn around. The animals defecate, urinate, eat, drink and sleep in the same small area. Such conditions can be found even in the largest circuses.

In an effort to curtail public concern about the housing provided for animals on the road, a few circuses and touring acts have marginally increased the size of their transport cages or incorporated fold-away extension sections for existing cages. Unfortunately, the changes are mostly cosmetic in effect, and do little to actually address the biological and ethological needs of the animals. Circus conditions fall far below even the minimum published standards for reputable zoos.

Chains and Tethers

Circus animals that are not confined to cages may often be chained or tethered up to 90% of the time. Most circuses routinely chain their elephants, while ungulates such as camels, zebras, and horses are tethered or stalled.

Elephants are normally chained by one front leg and the diagonal rear leg. Chains are usually, although not always, long enough to permit the elephant to take a step or two forward or backwards, and to lie down.

According to former Birmingham Alabama Zoo Director Bob Truett "...Elephants kept chained all night tend to develop excessive foot problems and stereotyped movements that seem to indicate frustration and neurosis. If it were not possible for me to keep elephants without chaining them overnight, then I would not keep elephants."

While circuses continue to defend the chaining of elephants, a growing number of zoos throughout North America have altered their elephant management programs so that they no longer include chaining, except for brief periods (e.g., ½ hour twice per week) to allow for routine veterinary care and foot maintenance. As well, an ever increasing number of zoos have opted to go the route of protected contact management where actual tactile contact between elephants and their handlers is reduced to near zero levels. This type of management strategy protects handlers from injury and elephants from abuse by harsh trainers.

Apart from the limited time that they are in the ring or on stage—sometimes as little as a few minutes a day—performing animals live a life of extreme confinement.

Conditions on the road

Constantly being moved from place to place is often a factor in the suffering of circus animals. They may be kept in unheated, poorly ventilated vehicles and trailers, closely confined, standing in their own urine and feces, with food and water withheld for travelling or performing convenience.

Not even when circuses come to the end of their touring seasons (which can be as much as 40-50 weeks of the year) will the animals necessarily be given accommodation and conditions appropriate to their needs.

A 1996 undercover investigation of circus winter quarters owned by Britain's Mary Chipperfield revealed animals in conditions that can only be described as squalid. After reviewing the investigation materials, veterinarian Samantha Lindley commented that the state of accommodation for the elephant and giraffe was "...so inadequate and so obviously indicative of either a lack of knowledge, care, or both that it seems incomprehensible to have to comment."

Some performing animals may exist in a permanent state of transit. Since many animal acts are independently owned and operated, they simply move on to another circus when their current tour ends.

Frustration of normal behaviours

Most wild animals, including those described as "tame", retain a need to engage in their instinctive behaviour patterns. The continual frustration of these patterns can lead to serious psychological problems. The pressures of captivity may lead to the development of abnormal behaviour patterns. Hyper-aggression, apathy, self-mutilation and stereotypic movements such as head weaving, rocking from side to side, bar licking and pacing are relatively common in performing animals, and are usually indicative of a problematic physical and social environment.

In the wild, and even in many modern zoo exhibits, animals live in surroundings of great complexity. In contrast, the extreme confinement and predictable surroundings inherent in most circuses and travelling shows, encourages the development of distorted, unnatural behaviours.

Training methods

Trainers generally deny that they abuse their animals on the basis of three grounds. First, they say that their animals are a substantial financial investment for them, and abuse would jeopardize that investment. Alternatively, they say that the animals are their friends and as such they wouldn't hurt them. Finally, they say that it would be dangerous for trainers to aggravate wild animals through harsh training methods because they have to get into the ring with them. Unfortunately, these claims are nonsensical and contradictory.

The performance is what makes the animal valuable to the trainer. If a large financial investment has been made and the animal doesn't perform, the trainer has a strong incentive to utilize harsher methods to "make" the animal perform. A non-performing animal is a liability.

Performing animal trainers have been consistently accused of cruelty to animals for decades. According to former Hollywood animal trainer Pat Derby, "To get an animal to perform on cue requires cruelty." Derby points out that "[a] bear doesn't want to waltz." During her career, she has witnessed "...elephants being beaten and electro shocked in the ears, mouth, anus; bears' noses broken and their feet burned, and big cats being struck with wooden bats." Reports of such brutal behaviour, while shocking, are unfortunately, not unusual.

While many animal handlers now claim to use more humane methods of training, harsh training methods may still be required to control animals and coerce them into performing tricks. According to primatologist Dr. Anne Russon:

"Although trainers may focus on positive reinforcement, there are times when they must reassert [a] dominance-dependence relationship either by physical threat or aggression against the animal, by social isolation, or by further restricting their freedom.''

While training methods in some situations have shown improvements over the years, abusive techniques are still relatively common. Because the training and disciplining of performing animals occurs away from public scrutiny, harsh methods continue to be employed.