Circus is in town

Besides the freakishly weird people suddenly creeping out of the woodwork.. they have horses, mini-horses, camels, a lama, lions and tigers.

What do you think about the circus using animal acts?

I hate them. With a vengeance!

No animals should be used in a circus EVER! I didn't even like them when I was a child!

Pretty much what Caryll said.

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that animals were banned from circuses in England.

I don't think it's too bad with horses, camels and dogs; but lions, tigers and elephants - NO.

I think in the main, animals can't be used in circuses in the UK. I believe there may be exceptions, but I don't know what they are.

I don't mind horses. Most show horses are used to that kind of life also, so if i didn't agree with them i wouldn't agree with show horses so would have to sell up.

I do NOT agree with wild animals like lions and tigers and sealions etc. They are not suitable for living in a cage. neither are horses, but the circuses here always do pen off the field they go in and let the horses out to play and roll and graze. Lions and tigers are in the cage, day in day out.

The things I don't like about using horses are the tiny rings they have to go round, the way some of them are trained (appalling) and the way some of them are treated.

Not all of them are badly treated, but you can't always tell, so I'd like to see it all banned, everywhere.

I hate the circus.
Nr 1 reason: The freaking clowns. I detest clowns! Can't stand them!
Nr 2 reason: Is the blatant misuse of animals for drawing power and to make a profit.

Here circuses can still use animals but they are inspected by the SPCA in every town they perform. They have to keep the animals in good condition or they have shitloads of trouble and bad press.

I have to agree, I hate clowns as well!

Baboons and clowns I would happily drive over, multiple times. I hate them with such a passion for some unknown, inexplicable reason.

I can't stand them! Pretty much for the same reasons as mentioned above.

Any travelling circus is going to be transporting animals over extremely long distances, practically non-stop. They never get adequate medical care, or even basic necessities sometimes.

Not to mention the completely unnatural things that the animals are forced to do. Tigers jumping through flame hoops is one of the more controversial ones, I believe. They're innately terrified of fire, and yet they are still forced to do it. There isn't a way to force a wild animal like a tiger to do something against every instinct, which could very likely lead to harm, without abuse.

Eleanor wrote: There isn't a way to force a wild animal like a tiger to do something against every instinct, which could very likely lead to harm, without abuse.

Exactly!!

I've read some terrible things about cattle prods, tazers, pepper spray, starvation etc.. to make them do tricks for survival. They also have breeding programs and the cubs are mentally warped from day one.

Poor, poor things.

Most don't have exotic animals here now but many still do. They are still legal in most municipalities. But their time is running out. (Just not soon enough).

But generally, people here prefer human acts to animal.

Caryll wrote:The things I don't like about using horses are the tiny rings they have to go round, the way some of them are trained (appalling) and the way some of them are treated.

Not all of them are badly treated, but you can't always tell, so I'd like to see it all banned, everywhere.

Circles are part of training any horse, most people use that size of circle really

Sorry, Hayley, but day in, day out, running in tight circles? And the rest of the time suffering long, cramped travel?

If that's how horses are trained nowadays then maybe owning/training should be made illegal without qualifications.

We call it lunging. It's a practice of every horse owner I know but, there are time, space & speed requirements to take into consideration to do it properly.

My sister has to lunge her horse "Budda" before every ride for 1/2hr as she is what we call a "hot" horse.

Lunging (and yes, I do know a bit about horses) is totally different to what circus horses have to go through, day in, day out.

I've been sort of watching what's going on, as the circus is on the school fields opposite the shopping centre our shop is in. The animals are in sizable pens and graze most of the day, so I can't really fault them there. They're also left in their paddocks till just before a show starts.
People are also allowed to go to the pens and watch the animals when they're not doing a show (1.5 hour long show, twice a day, animals on about 5-10 minutes depending).
The animals do look in good condition and from talking to the acrobats and trapeze artists (****ing weird people!) they rarely travel more than 6 hours a day. They also don't practice while traveling.

I still don't like animals in circuses.

It does sound that the ones near you are treated better than most, though.

Yeah, on the surface it does look like the animals have it ok.