Do You Think Zoos, Circuses, Rodeos, etc. Are Entertainment or Animal Cruelty?

I have a pretty, well-know gal-friend I went to highschool with. Interesting you would bring this up SB. I love her like a best buddy love, but I wondered over the years, and I never could be in that part of her life. I did do the horse thing, but not rodeo, type stuff.

I don't care for the life, and I never liked the calf-roping, or anything that might be hard on an animal. Her and her family have made their living, and it is their life. She is my age so she doesn't doing any sort of competing now (don't know if it age or she is just busy with the business end). Like I said, I love her but it's a whole other world kind of. I know there must be tons of rodeo folks that love their animals, and I'm sure things are much better now because of the animal rights activists. I just can't stomach any cruelty, especially to the innocents.
 
Cookie said:
Hmmmmm - I can withdraw those words if you like - but you seem to be identifying with them.

This topic is about mistreatment of animals in zoos and rodeos and other venues of 'entertainment' such as greyhound racing and horse racing. From what I have read there are some posts which seem to be in favour of these entertainments and which deny that the animals are mistreated, contrary what has been shown. Perhaps your idea and definition of mistreatment and abuse is different from mine.
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Not me. Personally, I boycott all forms of animal entertainment perceiving it as a form of cruelty beneath us. I dearly love my four legged buds, wildlife as well as domestic pets, and would as much as possible within my power ensure they live lives of comfort, dignity and love.
 

SeaBreeze said:
Yay!! Ringling Bros is slowly going to phase out the elephants by 2018 there will be none in their circus acts. I saw on TV today that some of the elephants will be moved to a wildlife refuge, where they'll finally have a good life compared to the one they had. Now...for the other animals. :) http://www.buzzfeed.com/tasneemnash...will-stop-using-elephants-by-2018#.cxoLylnzGv
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I heard that too. Awesome news for pachyderms. Now let's retire the large cats too. There's just no place for animal acts in circuses anymore IMO.
 
That's good news and I'm happy for the elephants. I'd like to see circuses completely eliminate animal acts from their venues - someday that will happen too.
 
And of course people should stop riding horses. What a cruel way to treat a horse. For no reason except the owners pleasure. Put a piece of steel in his mouth so you can pull it to one side or the other to make the poor horse turn this way or that.
 
A circus without any animal acts is not a circus.
The elephants may be gone and Ringling Bros will be gone within 5 years.
The elephants ARE the big time circus.k
 
I think circuses have outlived their purpose.. Way back when there weren't very many avenues of entertainment the traveling circus was a big deal to a small town. Now there are so many other ways people can be entertained, it's time the circus goes away.. There are venues for the acrobatics and High-wire performances. circ de sole comes to mind.. they don't use animals..
 
If Ringling Bros. was gone too after five years, that would be a plus for all the animals.
 
rkunsaw said:
And of course people should stop riding horses. What a cruel way to treat a horse. For no reason except the owners pleasure. Put a piece of steel in his mouth so you can pull it to one side or the other to make the poor horse turn this way or that.
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I have two old horses and that is exactly an issue for me and how I interact with them. When I chose a vegan lifestyle, I did continue riding but very rarely and I began riding with only a halter instead of the bridle. My riding became gentler (and I was already a very conscientious owner/rider) and much rarer to the point where I've had a saddle on them maybe twice in the past four years and only to stroll around the property just so they got a change of activity for half an hour.

I think you have to remember that when a horse is trained to accept a rider, that trainer is teaching a prey animal to overcome every survival instinct it has, i.e. never let a predator on your back. Most horses don't want anybody up there.

There is also the method that is used to train it to accept an unnatural experience. I once watched a race track guy teaching two year olds to accept the rider and to go forward when required and it was obviously a frightening and horrible experience for those horses. On the other hand, my daughter had a Friesien for a few years that never had to be 'trained' at all in that regard, she loved interacting with people in every capacity even more than she wanted to hang out with the herd.

My horses have been lucky and been treated well always, but I've seen some animals whose misery was palpable. But very little gets done to change that because there was food on the property, they were getting fed and the rest of it, oh well. A classic example of that kind of misery is the soring that has been done to Tennessee Walkers for decades, even into the time that it was banned. And all those 'horse lovers' will tell you they love their animals too!
 
Circuses will go the way of the carnival. Kids today don't marvel at the same things kids of yesteryear did. If all circuses were shut down, it would be a good thing.
 
AZ Jim said:
Circuses will go the way of the carnival. Kids today don't marvel at the same things kids of yesteryear did. If all circuses were shut down, it would be a good thing.
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Absolutely agree Jim, no place these days for animal acts not to mention all the freak show items either.
 
I have only been to a Circus once and I left after 20minutes, never again. We have lots of rodeos here and again I will not go again. Seeing children being allowed to chase piglets to see who is the first one to catch it and get a prize turned my stomach. The piglets were being fell on and pulled out of other children's hands. I do wonder about the parents that think this is okay. I don't have as much of a problem with horse racing but the whip should be banned,Steeplechasing is banned is many countries thankfully. I guess I don't need to go into Fox hunting and Bull Fighting do I ?
 
This video was taken in 2006 in Brazil at a wildlife sanctuary, when a circus lion named Will was able to walk on grass for the first time after being in a tiny cage for 13 years. Will experienced 5 years of freedom before passing in 2011.




 
Modern photography allows children as well as adults to see animals in their natural habitat instead of as captives. To the best of my knowledge there is no animal cruelty involved in wild life photography.
 
Fortunately for animals both domestic and wild, the rkunsaw's and Davey Jones's of the world are getting to be a smaller and smaller minority.
 
12 wild animals are rescued from Mexico by a Colorado animal sanctuary, more info and video here. http://kdvr.com/2015/08/27/12-wild-animals-rescued-from-mexico-and-brought-to-colorado/


KEENESBURG, Colo. — Twelve wild animals were rescued from rough conditions in Mexico this week and given new lives at The Wild Animal Sanctuary.

Eight lions, two lynx, one mountain lion and one coyote arrived in Colorado on Wednesday night. By Thursday afternoon, they were adjusting to their new home.

Some of the animals were held captive in Mexican zoos and circuses. Others were owned privately. A lion named Sansei was discovered abandoned on the side of a road.

“She was a former circus animal who was dumped,” said Jason Maxey with the Wild Animal Sanctuary.

Perhaps the saddest story is the story of CanCan the coyote.
“He was unfortunately used in some witchcraft ceremonies,” Maxey said.

According to the shelter, some people practicing black magic would tie his legs, hang him and poke his body with forks. The Wild Animal Sanctuary says there are plenty of wild animals dealing with difficult situations across the country.

“There are more tigers in the state of Texas outside the zoo system than there is in the wild, currently,” Maxey said. “There’s about 3,200 tigers in the wild today compared to about 4,000 in the state of Texas outside the zoo system alone.”

The 12 animals brought to the Wild Animal Sanctuary will spend the rest of their lives relaxing, eating endless amounts of food and for once – enjoying life.
 
Mountain Lion who found freedom after being chained in the back of a pickup truck by a Peruvian Circus...thank goodness for the kind hearted folks involved. This animal may not last long in the wild, but at least he's where he was meant to be, if only for a short time.

 
It's sad...if you watch something like the video to "Amarillo By Morning"...well besides how gorgeous George Strait was in those days...it's just a short clip of rodeo culture and you can see people being drawn to it. On the other paw what they do to those poor animals you find yourself rooting for the bull or horse " Go on and nail that bastard, one good leap and you can break both his legs, get him!!!".

I have always been repelled by the circus even as a kid. Besides hating clowns, I couldn't put my finger on it at the time except no those creatures weren't supposed to be doing tricks like a dog. There had to be some pain and suffering involved to make them do that stuff. I just didn't like what I was seeing. Now that I've read what they do from the elephants...those poor elephants especially...to the Killer Whales...who had the bright idea to take something with Killer in it's name and teach it to do tricks with humans? What exactly WERE they thinking?

Big Bucks of course, which is what has kept the circus and rodeo and SeaWorld going for decades.
 
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