Circus Elephants: A Life of Abuse and Neglect

Most Americans have been to the circus at one time or another; maybe with their parents or their own children. After all, the circus is an American pastime. The patrons of the circus sit in awe of the wonders going on around them, of people flipping high in the air and walking on wires above great heights, of the lights and the sparkling costumes. It's all so captivating. When they watch the animals parade out to the rings and perform tricks, the audience watches in wonder at the magic of the great circus. Little children and adults alike "ooh" and "aah" at the exotic beasts, so close they could almost reach out and touch one. One animal in particular catches the imagination of all: the elephant. Who could deny the pure magic one feels while sitting on a dirty bleacher and staring at the freak shows, acrobat and animals performing with their handlers, and the elephants balancing all this bulk on to one little ball? There is just one problem: life for animals, especially elephants, is not a life one should be proud of in the circus.

One thing the audience may never see is the abuse and neglect these exotic beasts are exposed to behind the circus tent. Some animals are easier to handle than others, the most difficult being the elephants, so the handlers use sharp objects called bull hooks or electric prods to keep elephants in line. Elephants are an endangered species in great need of protection not only in the wild, but also in captivity. I propose that elephants should not be in the circus or any other business of entertainment. Although taking all elephants out of the circus would expensive it is better than letting circus owners continue to breed elephants and create a bigger problem. According to PAWS' (performing Animal Welfare Society) they would need $50,000 per year per elephant and that does not include transportation to their facility in Galt. The transportation of thirteen elephants would cost about $45,000. With a little less than six-hundred elephants in captivity in the United States, (www.elephants.com), the amount of money it will cost sounds dire, but if circuses are allowed to use elephants in their performances the situation can only get worse. For example, in the Ringling Brothers Circus eighteen elephants have died since 1992 out of these eighteen, seven where euthanized and the other eleven died of causes related to there poor captivity conditions and that is just one circus (www.circuses.com).

The first circus was built in 1792 in Philadelphia by John Bill Rickets. Rickets circus was created for the love of horses. Unfortunately, the love of animals is not the motivation today. According to Joe Taskel of PETA, " Here you have the most despicable form of animal cruelty going on for no other reason than to turn a buck..." (www.pittsburgchannel.com). Jim Parson of " ThePittsburgchannel.com" claims that Ringling Brothers rakes in around 200 million dollars a year. The circus industry is motivated by money and does not concern themselves with the treatment of animals. The public could help end the abuse of elephants. If people did not patron circuses where animals are used for entertainment, the circus industry would have to reevaluate their practices. Just by having elephants in the circus traveling from town to town creates depression and stress for the elephants. Elephants are social animals that suffer sever stress and depression if separated from family; they live in herds all their lives. The male elephants will leave the herd tat the age of fifteen, but return to the herd to breed. Because of the hardships elephants endure they pose a risk to humans. When an elephant tries to escape they will trample any person in the way. The circus owners are putting the lives of endangered elephants and innocent patrons in danger. Elephants should not be in the circus due to the endangered species status and the risk their animals pose when their stress level has become too much for them to handle. The cruelty circus animal trainers expose these generally kind and ancient beasts to should also not go without mention.

the elephant species was roaming the earth with the dinosaurs and used to roam freely over much of our planet, but slowly they have died off and out of more than 150 cataloged species only two types remain. The Asian and African elephants will not survive if we do not help them. Elephants have been placed on the endangered species list, but that does not seem to make a difference. Elephants in the circus are severely abused during training an even during the off season. For example, the Hawthorn Corporation owned sixteen elephants that were leased out to circuses across the nation, but the life the elephants lived while at home was no better than being on the road. Circuses.com provides a list of violations for various corporations including the Hawthorn Corporation. Hawthorn Corporation has been in violation of AWA (Animal Welfare Act) enforced by the U.S.D.A. numerous times. The Animal Welfare Act according to the Humane Society of the Unites States is an act enforced by the U.S.D.A. "which sets minimal standards for the handling, care, treatment, and transport of wild animals in circuses"(www.hsus.org). The U.S.D.A. had ordered the Hawthorn Corporation to release all sixteen of its captive elephants to approved sanctuaries by August 15th of 2004 or there license would be revoked. As of November 2004 a total of three had been released to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee and the Hawthorn Corporation has kept other elephants as recently as April 2nd 2007
(www.circuses.com). The Hawthorn Corporation still contained a license to own and lease elephants. No action had been taken to ensure the safety of these elephants except by PETA, and that action was dismissed. Life is not easy or fun for these captive elephants and the abuse continues throughout the time spent with the circus. PETA recorded a training session with Carson&Barnes handlers and what they caught on tape is heart wrenching to say the least. Throughout the video the handler is instructing a trainee how to train elephants. According to www.circuses.com and video documentation some of his instructions were, " Sink that hook into 'em. When you hear that screaming, then you know you got their attention" The hook he is referring to is a bull hook, a sharp metal hook with a spike on the end used to tear into the sensitive skin behind an elephant's ears, knees and the top of their feet to make them kneel or perform other dangerous and uncomfortable tricks. Most circus elephants have scars and boils all over their bodies from these hooks, but the circus staff use a method called spotting to hide the marks from the audience. Bull hooks are not the only tool used to force elephants to perform tricks; they are also whipped, electrically prodded and some handlers use welding torches to burn the hair off the elephants. Handlers justify their actions by telling those who question them that an elephant cannot feel the pain because of their tough skin, but the truth is an elephant's skin is so sensitive it can feel the bite from a bug. If these harsh training method were not painful, it would not work. All of this torture is done in the name of entertainment.

I wonder why an endangered species, or any species, would be allowed to be treated this way. The U.S.D.A. has a animal welfare act (AWA) which should force handlers to treat elephants with respect, but the U.S.D.A. does not investigate on a regular basis. When they do investigate the circus can be fined. Although the offending circus may be charged they may never be punished. WWW.circuses.com states that Carson&Barnes paid only four-hundred dollars to avoid a charge of animal abuse, even though there is taped footage of the abuse. Harsher punishments are handed out for neglecting a dog. Carson&Barnes alone has been cited at least eight times since 1995 for the abuse of elephants. So why should the circus have access to an endangered species if no one can insure the safety of their elephants? "Animal Welfare Weekly" believes the U.S.D.A. does not care about the animal abuse, specifically at Ringling Brothers. Although AWI does not speculate an why the U.S.D.A. would turn their cheeks to such abuse they do give examples of cases being closed prematurely and citations being overridden. For example, "U.S.D.A. investigators found that a trainer's use of a bull hook on a baby elephant named Benjamin 'created behavioral stress and trauma which precipitated in the physical harm and ultimate death of the animal' yet the U.S.D.A. memorandum closing the case omitted all references to this finding..." (www.awionline.org). other similar actions have taken place. If the U.S.D.A. does not take action and stop the abuse of circus elephants now, then society must take a stand on the issue. Unfortunately, most patrons of the circus are too absorbed in the dreamlike atmosphere to ask themselves why an elephant would stand on its head.

Most people do not know of the abuse that goes on outside of the ring, what the public sees is the huge animals balancing on balls and carrying children around in circles. That is what the circus industry wants the public to believe, so they create a mirage of conservation and education of the public and much like a mirage these claims will apparently never be real. According to www.emagazine.com Ringling Brothers corporate parent, Feld Entertainment has created the Center for Elephant Conservation or CEC. This conservation is a two-hundred acre "breeding and research facility" for Asian elephants. Since starting this program in 1992 and the year 2004 fifteen elephants had been born, which Ringling Brothers claims is more than any other conservation counting zoos in America. When comparing their elephant deaths in the circus to their birth rate at CEC, between 1995 and 2004, Ringling Brothers is down by three elephants. That is nothing to boast about. Emagazine states "while not all of these elephants will become circus performers, all will remain captive and have their performance potential vetted" (www.emagazine.com). Feld Entertainment now "controls" sixty-one Asian elephants and tried to encourage the public by implying that with the gene pool they have created they can now "regenerate the animals' population in Asia", yet Feld Entertainment has not done so. Some conservationists as well as animal behaviorists are skeptical of the motivation for Feld Entertainment to fund CEC. Emagazine quotes a professor of biology at the university of Colorado-Boulder, Mark Bekoff, as stating " they're not making a substantial contribution" and " it's a captive breeding ground in Florida" (www.emagazine.com). Bekoff is referring to the Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC). The fact is that Ringling Brothers and its parent corporation do not intend to conserve the Asian elephant species, " Asked why Ringling does not redirect its efforts from breeding elephants to habitat conservation, pflughaupt replies: 'habitat is another thing. We're not a conservation organization" (www.emagazine.com). Ringling Brothers national press representative , plughaupt, claims "they're safer with us" (www.emagazine.com). With proof of abuse the elephants endure at Ringling Brothers Circus, real conservationists know this is not true. Ringling Brothers has, according to www.circus.com, been cited 11 times by the U.S.D.A. between June of 2000 and November of 2004, for neglect and abuse of their animals. On August 5th 2004 an eight month old elephant was euthanized after falling off a pedestal and sustaining irreparable fractured to his hind legs. Riccardo, the baby elephant, was born to Shirley another Ringling Brothers performing elephant when she was only seven years old. Elephants do not come of age to bear offspring until they are eighteen years old, because Ringling Brothers bred her too early she could not nurse Riccardo and he may have developed a bone disorder. Ringling Brothers claims these elephants are better off with the circus then in the wild, but they do not act responsibly in caring for this already endangered species. The act of forcing juvenile elephants to breed is yet another hardship laid on elephants by their handlers and owners.

The Circus life, although dreamed of by the youth of our nation, is not a healthy environment for elephants. Circus elephants are often denied the privilege of veterinary visits and if a veterinarian is available, more times than not, they are on the circus payroll. Elephants in the circus contract a number of illnesses from foot infections to tuberculosis and osteoarthritis. Many elephants are simply euthanized to solve the problem of illness; if an elephant can no longer perform they are "retired" or euthanized. For so many elephants they spend their lives living in cramped trailers, only let out to perform and train. Since circuses can travel up to 150 towns and cities in the span of three months fresh water and food is rare. Not only are their basic needs denied, they are beat, burned and worked till they drop. Is this the life for an endangered species as old as time? Elephants need to be banned from the circus; because the Animal Welfare Act and the U.S.D.A. is not working. It is up to society to stop the unnecessary neglect and abuse of elephants. Elephants are a species that bury their dead, return to the burial for months maybe years after words, communicate to others of their species and their memory is astounding. Who else can provide sanctuary for elephants if not those who care enough to pay and observe them? Wouldn't it be better for the world to pay to preserve the elephants? By simply writing your state representative and handing out fliers from PETA when a circs comes to your town you can help preserve a dying species. Laws prohibiting elephants and other animals in the circus have been fought for and passed in some states, but to many states have allowed the opportunity to slide by. It is important to preserve this species and they are dying out fast, the elephant sanctuary states, " At the beginning of this century, Africa's elephant was probably between 5 and 10 million." and " At the same time Asian elephants numbered about 200,000" living (www.elephants.com). Today roughly one-million African elephants live and about 35 to 50 thousand Asian elephants are alive. The numbers will continue to decline. Now is the time to act, because tomorrow may never arrive for many of these captive elephants.

In the end, we will conserve only what we love.
We will love only what we understand.
We will understand only what we have been taught.
-Baba Dioum, Senegal (www.elephants.com)

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