Animals Are NOT Ours For Entertainment

For animals in circuses, there is no such thing as "positive reinforcement"-only varying degrees of punishment and deprivation. Animals do not voluntarily ride bicycles, stand on their heads, or jump through rings of fire. They don't perform these and other difficult tricks because they want to; they perform because they're afraid not to.

Circuses easily get away with routine abuse because no government agency monitors training sessions. Trainers use bullhooks, whips, sticks, electric prods, and other tools that intentionally cause pain and injury in order to force animals to perform. Undercover footage of behind-the-scenes training shows elephants beaten with bullhooks and shocked with electric prods, big cats dragged by heavy chains around their neck and hit with sticks, bears whacked and prodded with long poles, and chimpanzees kicked and hit with riding crops.

Constant Confinement
Ringling Bros. boasts that its two units travel more than 25,000 miles as they tour across the country for 11 months each year. Constant travel means that animals are confined to boxcars and trailers for days at a time in extremely hot and cold weather, often without access to basic necessities, such as food, water, and veterinary care.

Some elephants spend almost their whole lives shackled. One study of traveling circuses observed an elephant who spent up to 96 percent of her time in chains. Tigers and lions usually live and travel in cages 4 feet high by 7 feet long by 7 feet wide, with two big cats crammed into a single cage. Big cats, bears, and primates are forced to eat, drink, sleep, defecate, and urinate in the same cramped cages.

Public Danger
Frustrated by years of beatings, bullhooks, and shackles, some elephants snap. And when an elephant rebels against a trainer's physical dominance, trainers cannot protect themselves, let alone the public.

In 1994, an elephant killed her trainer and injured 12 spectators before being gunned down by almost 100 bullets while running terrified through downtown Honolulu. In 1992, officer Blayne Doyle had to shoot Janet, an elephant who charged out of the Great American Circus arena with five children on her back. Doyle lamented, "I have discovered, much to my alarm, that, once an elephant goes out of control,the only thing that can be done-and even this is a danger to the public-is to get a battery of police officers in with heavy weapons and gun the elephant down."

An October 11, 2002, editorial in the Detroit Free Press, entitled, "Circus Entertainment Comes at the Expense of Animals," by Ron Kagan, stated, "Living on the road, circus animals are not able to have either appropriate physical or social environments. Constant travel in the back of a truck or train, daily and prolonged restraint-often including chaining or confinement in small barred cages-and rigorous physical training and discipline are all very stressful. In my view, anyone who strikes an elephant-or any other animal-should be prosecuted for animal cruelty."

Circuses are regulated by the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which is enforced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The AWA establishes minimum guidelines for certain species. For example, the AWA does not protect horses, ponies, birds, rats, mice, reptiles, or amphibians. The AWA does not prohibit the use of bullhooks, whips, electrical shock, or other commonly used devices that cause pain and suffering. The AWA also does not address the special physical and social needs of elephants. The USDA may inspect circuses as little as once a year.

In the past, circuses often took advantage of the fact that animal control officers, humane Investigators, and wildlife agents were unfamiliar with exotic species, such as elephants. Because of heightened public awareness and evidence of routine mistreatment, local authorities are now giving closer scrutiny to traveling animal acts. As a result, local agencies that monitor circuses commonly find violations of humane laws.

Before the circus comes to town, establish a relationship with your local zoo and exotic animal veterinarians. When the circus arrives, make frequent, unannounced inspections. During the initial visit, notify the person in charge that you are conducting an inspection. Do not allow them to intimidate or threaten you. Ask to review all paperwork, such as current permits, health records, and recent USDA reports. Notify the USDA if your inspection reveals a violation or a previously identified violation that remains out of compliance. Inspect the elephants first. Ask if the elephants have any injuries or illnesses. Walk around and closely examine them. Check the elephants each day that the circus is in town. Arrive at least 30 minutes before performances and observe the animals during the shows, elephant rides and after performances.

Do not allow circus officials to influence your judgment. Be certain to take photos.

A PETA undercover investigator has documented Carson & Barnes Circus "animal care" director Tim Frisco attacking, screaming obscenities at and electro-shocking endangered Asian elephants. In the video, Frisco tells would-be elephant trainers that they must hurt elephants until they scream-and then shows exactly how to do it. As horrifying as the images of the terrified elephants are, the vicious abuse they suffer has been standard in the circus industry for decades. Frisco and his two brothers learned the trade from their father, Joe Frisco, who has spent a lifetime "training" elephants, initially for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, a circus with a shameful record of elephant care that includes beatings, unexplained deaths and repeated violations of animal protection laws.

Frisco to would-be elephant trainer: "Tear that foot off! Sink it [sharp, metal bullhook] in the foot! Tear it off!
Make 'em scream!"
Frisco to elephant: "Becky!
Becky!! You motherf---er!" Frisco attacks Becky. Becky recoils and screams.

Frisco to trainers: "Don't touch 'em-hurt 'em. Hurt 'em. Don't touch 'em-make 'em scream. If you're scared to hurt 'em, don't come in the barn. When I say rip his head off [and] rip his f---ing foot off, it's very important that you do it. When he starts squirming too f---ing much, both f---ing hands-BOOM!-right under the chin!" Frisco swings the bullhook like a baseball bat.

"When he f---s around too much, you f---ing sink that hook and give it everything you got." Frisco demonstrates by twisting the bullhook back and forth. "Sink that hook into 'em. When you hear that screaming, then you know you got their attention."
Frisco explains that abuse must be kept secret: "Right here in the barn.
You can't do it on the road. I'm not gonna touch her in front of a thousand people. She's gonna f---ing do what I want, and that's just f---ing the way it is. Make 'em holler, let 'em run from ya."
"Don't touch 'em-hurt 'em. Hurt 'em. Don't touch 'em-make 'em scream.%u2026Tear that foot off! Sink it in the foot! Tear it off! Make 'em scream!"
-Tim Frisco, elephant trainer
Later, Frisco jabs at elephants with prods that deliver painful electric shocks, and a handler uses a blowtorch to burn hair from the elephants' skin-skin so sensitive that the elephants can feel the touch of a fly.

A former elephant trainer reviewed the video and commented, "All elephants used in circuses are trained in this fashion. The elephants are conditioned through physical pain and mental intimidation that they must obey commands."
Training Methods Kill
Frisco's elephant-training methods may have contributed to the death of a 27-year-old Asian elephant named Janet. While performing with the Great American Circus in Palm Bay, Florida, in 1992, Janet ran amok with five children on her back. She injured 12 people and threw a man to the ground before being shot many times and killed by police. These rampages are elephants' way of rebelling against a life of abuse and deprivation. Tim Frisco was Janet's trainerTraining Methods Kill