An Animal Defenders of Yuma website
An Animal Defenders of Yuma website
Every September, the circus comes to Yuma promising "Tons of Circus Elephants." Overwhelming evidence exposes horrendous cruelty that circus elephants endure for every minute of their lives. Undercover video shows circus trainers repeatedly beating elephants with bullhooks and electric prods. When not performing, elephants are kept chained in barren stalls or in a semi-trailer. These same elephants regularly walk twenty miles a day in the wild.
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US Cities: Alburqueque, NM; Boulder, CO; Stamford, CT; more than two dozen more. Countries w/ complete ban : Austria, Israel, Singapore, Costa Rica; countries w/ partial ban: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Sweden. Cities worldwide: Venice, Italy; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Okay, you realize the the circus is rampant with cruelty but how do you talk about with your kids. Do you just bite your tongue and take your kids? Or do you decide that your kids deserve the truth. But how do you break it to them? First, realize that the hardest part is finding a way to tell them. Once they know, you will not have to worry about them still wanting to go to the circus.
Of course, you're not going to show your young child the graphic YouTube footage in the right hand column of the page. So, how do you do it? Well, there are a few resources out there. ASPCA has an entire kids' site, called Animaland, and there is a page that discusses circuses.
Scheduling another activity your kid would enjoy will help alleviate the angst of having looked forward to the circus for weeks or months and all of a sudden not going.
What better way to teach your child how to make compassionate and principled choices than by making those choices together.
On Thursday, September 27, we were able to obtain copies of the original USDA documentation that found the Jordan Circus in repeated violation of the Animal Welfare Act. Given the short amount of time remaining before this weekend's circus we have opted to let the primary sources speak for themselves and postpone analysis and commentary until time permits. The following files are Adobe Acrobat files. NOTE: one should not assume that the Jordan Circus has not been cited since 1998 but rather our source for this information was not in possession of any more recent documentation.
(Content from HSUS) The Humane Society of the United States has monitored circuses for 20 years, chronicling training methods and living conditions that the animals routinely experience. We have kept track of incidents and anecdotes that explode many of the myths that circuses want you to believe—myths that help them perpetuate the big lie.
Circus animals perform tricks out of love for their trainers. Fact: While circus promoters claim that trainers use only positive reinforcement, or rewards, reports prove otherwise. Circus training methods include beating animals with clubs and other objects (even during performances) and depriving them of food. Trainers sometimes strike elephants with sharpened hooks, which can result in physical injury. Trainers resort to brutal methods to maintain a position of dominance. Yet wild animals will always behave in instinctive and unpredictable ways and can never be made willing or safely manageable through training.
Fact: Many circus animals are leased seasonally from dealers. The animals move from circus to circus, following seasonal contracts. Many circuses don't bother to provide regular, competent veterinary care. Animals who aren't obedient or who have grown too old to perform may be sold or given to zoos, roadside attractions, research laboratories, or private individuals—options unlikely to improve their quality of life.
Fact: After the show, the animals are locked in cages and shipped to the next town. Circus animals spend much of their lives in small, often dirty cages, barely able to turn around. Circus animals often are shipped in trucks and railway cars without heat or air conditioning and often are deprived of food and water for extended periods.
Fact: People, as well as animals, are injured at circuses. In 1994, an elephant named Tyke charged through an audience in Honolulu after killing one circus employee and injuring another. Tyke was shot to death on a city street. In 1990, a chimpanzee abandoned his motorcycle act, rushed into the stands, and bit a child. In 1994, a baby elephant named Mickey was beaten during a performance. A month later, during another performance, Mickey attacked a child.
Circuses serve endangered species by educating children and adults. Fact: Watching wild animals perform unnatural tricks outside their natural habitats doesn't teach people anything about the animals. By displaying bears as tricycle-riding buffoons and by dressing elephants in tutus, circuses present animals as creatures whose purpose is to amuse us.
Laws protect animals in circuses. Fact: While standards for handling, care, treatment, and transport are written into the federal Animal Welfare Act (administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture), those standards are minimal and poorly enforced. Persistent violators are rarely prosecuted.
The Jordan Circus travels tens of thousands of miles a year across the western United States and Canada, turning a profit by cramming as many performances and miles in as possible at the expense of their animals.
Circus-goers at a Jordan Circus in Gallatin County, Montana, last summer reported that "the animals were not being taken care of and some had injuries." The County Fair Board voted unanimously not to allow the Jordan Circus back the following year unless they improved.
The Jordan Circus, responding to a letter from the Gallatin County Fair Board, blamed the problems on a sub-contractor and claimed that they had been rectified (circuses regularly "rent" their animals from third party suppliers). Boardmembers noted that the response letter appeared to be a "form letter." In the end, the board decided to allow the Jordan Circus to return only if they agreed to the stipulations that the Jordan Circus be held solely accountable for the actions of their sub-contractors, and that animal control officers be allowed to inspect the animals prior to the circus. Fairgrounds personnel confirmed that the Jordan CIrcus did not apply for a 2007 booking.
Sources: Gallatin County Fair Board minutes, June 16, 2006 and December 19, 2006. Additional details gathered from a phone conversation with Gallatin County Fairgrounds employee.
The Jordan Circus, like many traveling circuses, rents most of their wild animals from companies like the Hawthorne Corporation.
The Hawthorne Corporation was charged by the USDA with 47 violations of the minimal standards set forth by the Animal Welfare Act (see "Myth #6" to the left). These charges involved the mistreatment of 12 elephants between the dates of March 29, 2001 and June 1, 2002.
Many Shriner circuses rent elephants from the Hawthorne Corporation--including the Jordan World Circus.
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Video #1: Undercorver video of an elephant "training" session. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. Language not suitable for children. Cruelty not suitable for anyone.
Video #2: ASPCA and others sue Ringling Brothers for alleged cruelty to an endangered species.