Disguising Cruelty

One of an American’s favorite pastimes is taking the family out to one of the most spectacular shows on earth, the circus. At the pinnacle front of the circus is the beautiful elephant, performing practiced routines, but at what cost? These animals undergo harsh conditions and are beaten into submission all for the enjoyment of the spectators. However, in order to understand why humanity has turned to this cruel enjoyment, one must understand the history of the circus. The rush of exotic animals and highflying trapeze acts bring spectators together worldwide. Bright colors, festive music, and delicious treats accompanied men performing feats of strength and extreme agility as Philip Astley opened Paris’s first circus, the Amphithéâtre Anglois, in 1782.Acrobats, ropedancers, and jugglers starred in Philip Astley’s show. While the acts, including the elephant act, were being prepared during the show, the clown was introduced into the circus arena to catch the audience’s eye between acts, a practiced still used in the circus today. Clearly, a lot of time and deliberation go into putting on this eclectic demonstration of talent.

Due to the fact that recorded history of the circus is sparse and hard to come by, the history of this magical show is told by person to person in tales, often getting distorted as the story is passed along. However, it is known that a student of Charles Hughes, a former partner of Philip Astley, opened the first circus in the United States of America in Philadelphia, in 1979. These early circuses were held in makeshift wooden structures built specifically for the circus. At this time, every major city in Europe had a permanent circus built. Soon, major cities in the continent of North America soon followed suit.

Joshua Purdy Brown from New York City, New York introduced the traveling circus in America in 1825. It was because of him that the modern look of a giant red and white canvas tent became the most popular look for the circus. Brown started to work with a former cattle dealer named Hachaliah Baileythat had recently attained a baby African elephant, which he had put on exhibit around the country with promising success. Since Brown was looking for more acts to put in his show, a wonderful exhibit of exotic animals came forth and prospered. At the same time this was happening, a circus in Germany presented Kioumi, the first trained elephant. It was there that the Heinbachs found out that these massive beasts could be controlled with force and “training,” a hidden form of animal abuse which started a century of torture and despair for the once wild mammals.

Animal cruelty has been around since the domestication of animals. From the simple act of forcefully herding cattle to excessively forcing monkeys to do side performances, this issue is often overlooked and under-perused. Even the most popular items at the supermarket come at a drastic cost to the animals around the world. Chicken, pork, steak, hamburger, and milk are all collected from animals that suffer from animal abuse. They live in disgustingly tight and crammed conditions and are extremely malnourished. On top of this cruelty, the animals are killed in a very inhumane way, from getting their throats slit to be being beat to death. These animals receive undeserving treatment, often for being too weak or disobedient to have any worth to the factory. Even the ones lucky enough to survive the factory-farming institute, are shipped over many miles with no food or water to the slaughterhouse. Understanding that many animals are mistreated can stir awareness for the animals that many do not think receive animal abuse, such as elephants. However, more and more photos and videos are being leaked to gain awareness worldwide.

Furthermore, the repercussions of the spectators falling in love with the elephant’s unique acts are that the “tamed” animals are beaten and forced to live unnaturally terrifying lives. On a website dedicated to showing the truth of the elephants horrible lives, one can see the evidence firsthand. If an elephant is not cooperating with the act, the “caretaker” of the animal beats him with a bull rod, a strong pole with a hook at the end of it made to inflict pain to animals. These animals are dressed up in feathers and headdresses and forced to comply. Stated in the article, the overall cause of the massive animals being beat into submission is the fact that people want to see them do an unnatural sequence of movements. If we take our attention away from the elephant’s act, they will discontinue the act and stop the elephant cruelty. We, as spectators, are the underlying cause to this form of animal cruelty. We can reverse the effects of this by revealing to everyone the truth of the beaten animals.

Exploiting the harsh lives of the circus elephants is the first step towards stopping this horrific crime.  PETA provides the world with videos of the elephants being tormented. Encouraging people to protest the circus. After seeing the elephants whipped in the face a few times, it is hard to side with the circus. In a compelling article, an ex-circus trainer states that after a show, the elephant was led into a tent and beat by five men with bull hooks. He stated, “after my three years working with elephants in the circus, I can tell you that they live in confinement and they are beaten all the time when they don’t perform properly.” Also, the article states the living situations of the elephants as horrible quarters, barely ever being cleaned and beat often. PETA constructed a guide for the authorities to check elephant health and safety. PETA maintains fact sheets on numerous circuses that list their history of Animal Welfare Act violations as well as other problems. Everything is ready for a petition to be signed to maintain a regular check up on elephants in the circus scene.

The undeniable cruelty of elephants being brutally beaten into submission to perform in circuses and zoos is said to be a misconception of the actual truth by the LA Times. The article states that elephants are treated with respect and are taught with a trial and reward system. However, this may be the case in certain zoos, but the sad truth is that the world’s most famous circuses and traveling animal acts treat these majestic beasts with no respect and forces them to live in terrible conditions. There are numerous videos circulating the worldwide web of the most respected circuses torturing their elephants to comply with the trainers. Cattle prods are the most commonly used weapon to assault the defenseless animals. In the rebuttal, the article recognizes that similarly, bridles are used to control horses; however, this is a less harsh tool than used on elephants. Instead of seeing that and saying what is done onto one animal can be done onto others, there should be stricter laws banning such tools as these.

In addition to the hardships of captivity, the wild for these magnificent animals is depleting more and more each day. Fences put up by parks and large villages stand in the way and deter elephants from advancing on their natural migration routes. In Sri-Lanka, elephants are known to traverse fields in villages and this often results in an elephant-human interaction leading to the elephant’s death. On top of all the obstacles and lack of land, elephants could wander for months looking for water during a drought. All these hardships are not the case for captive elephants, the LA Times article states. The LA Times seems to think the only solution to these growing problems is to keep the elephants in captivity, whether it be in a zoo or performing in the circus. Instead of cracking down on poaching and allowing the elephants to roam their natural habitat, we are stuck to force these animals into tight and unsanitary conditions. Perhaps the LA Times should consider the disadvantages to a life of restricted movement and captivity. An unnatural life often leads elephants to go insane and they have to be put down. In Asia, elephants work along side of humans, as horses do in America. Instead of jumping to the conclusion that captivity is the only way to preserve the animals, the thought of letting a caged bird fly free should come to mind. The focus should be on restoring the natural balance to the environment, allowing these beautiful creatures a chance to a life worth living is the solution to this problem.

Often, animals must reach near extinction numbers before they receive respect and recognition. Its very counterintuitive when one thinks about this paradox. In order to protect a species of animals, they must undergo severe oppression and cruelty. Even when people think of the fun-filled life of a circus elephant, they are honestly mistaken. A ‘circus elephant’ has to become a phrase no longer used in our lives as humanity. Although the circus is a wonderful and fantastic show, the show can go on without torturing the poor elephants. When Philip Astley first made the circus, it is most likely he did not think beating elephants into submission was the path he was paving. Mankind can be full of love and compassion. At the same time, hate and discouragement clouds the lighted way to a peaceful land. It is up to us, as humans, to take action and stop the cruelty. The evidence is available for anyone, proving that the happiest show on Earth is actually a ring of horror for some of gods greatest mammals.

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