My Circus experience would have to include imagery of animal acts through history however I would also like to include a section about Animal rights activisits and the promotion of Human only Circus acts. This could be a transition between the old and the new.
Bears, elephants, tigers, and other animals do not voluntarily ride bicycles, stand on their heads, balance on balls, or jump through rings of fire. They don't perform these and other difficult tricks because they want to; they perform them because they're afraid of what will happen if they don't.
For animals in circuses, there is no such thing as "positive reinforcement"—only varying degrees of punishment and deprivation. To force them to perform these meaningless and physically uncomfortable tricks, trainers use whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks, and other painful tools of the trade.
In the Ringling Bros. circus, elephants are beaten, hit, poked, prodded, and jabbed with sharp hooks, sometimes until bloody. Ringling breaks the spirit of elephants when they're vulnerable babies who should still be with their mothers. Unsuspecting parents planning a family trip to the circus don't know about the violent training sessions with ropes, bullhooks, and electric shock prods that elephants endure. Heartbreaking photos reveal how Ringling Bros. circus trainers cruelly force baby elephants to learn tricks, and it's not through a reward system, as they claim.
But aren't wild animals in circuses banned? In March 2012 the government in Westminster announced a phase-in ban on wild animals in circuses in England with a lisencing scheme to be impilimented in the interim. However, the RSPCA have serious concerns as the government have yet to make a firm commitment to a deadline for a ban and the documents outlining the proposals are peppered with inconsistencies and contraditctions.
Im shocked and upset by the imagery as I was under the impression that most circuses did not use animals in their shows anymore.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8409600/Animal-rights-campaigners-expose-circus-cruelty.html
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