05-07-2021, 09:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-07-2021, 10:10 PM by Black Wolf.)
What are your views on the circus these days and its use of animal performers?
It seems as the modern circus has become a dead art form especially in America. Back in 2017, Ringling Bros & Barnum Bailey shut down for good. Declining admissions revenues, many concerns about animal welfare. I believe a circus might be run ethically under these following conditions:
How a Modern Circus in America Should Be: Included Show Features and Safety/Morality/Welfare Standards Desired
1. There should be traditional circus organ music that plays waltzes, ragtime and marches. A circus without organ music is like a camp without a fire.
2. Show personnel should wear traditional costumes. Ringmasters should wear top hats.
3. There should be clowns in old-fashioned makeup and clothing.
4. At least one horse dancing to organ waltz music is desirable. At least one dog performing somersaults is also desirable so long as the animal is not subject to cruelty.
Morality Standards
5. People with deformities should not be exploited. There should be no freak shows.
Safety Standards
6. Tents or big tops should not be employed as they may pose a fire or collapse hazard. The arena should be outdoors or inside a rigid building.
7. Aerial acrobats, as tightrope walkers, motorcycle high-wire performers and trapeze artists, should only perform over proper and serviceable safety nets with no exceptions. The circus is no place for small children to witness preventable gory falling deaths.
8. Equestrian performers should wear the proper safety helmet for horseback riding.
Humaneness and Welfare Standards
9. Performing animals should be restricted to domestic animals as dogs, horses and camels. It is unethical and dangerous to handlers to keep wild species as lions, tigers and elephants in captivity.
10. No circus animal should be beaten or otherwise treated cruelly during training or during circus ownership. No animal should be made to do tricks it's not willing to do. Animals when transported (as in trains, trucks or airplanes) should always be in a comfortable climate-controlled environment and have plenty of clean bedding and adequate space to lie down flat. Animals should be exercised regularly during long trips over land and have plenty of clean water and food. Animals should be vetted regularly and groomed and bathed regularly.
Some of these standards I favor have to do with the safety of human performers. Some have only to do with the aesthetics of the entertainment but many have to do with the treatment of animals. Before paying any admission to any circus, I would email the circus from their website contact information and ask them questions. I would ask the circus I'm considering to visit whether they meet any of my standards for safety and ethics as outlined above. The circus may or may not reply. If the circus fails to reply, I won't even bother spending my money there. The thing is, I never can know how any circus treats its animals behind the scenes. There doesn't seem to be any government oversight and periodic inspections. Perhaps, circuses can't really operate as a profitable entity by conforming to many of the standards I find as a prospective paying spectator desirable. Making the circus safe and comfortable for its animal and human performers would certainly entail greater overhead costs.
It seems as the modern circus has become a dead art form especially in America. Back in 2017, Ringling Bros & Barnum Bailey shut down for good. Declining admissions revenues, many concerns about animal welfare. I believe a circus might be run ethically under these following conditions:
How a Modern Circus in America Should Be: Included Show Features and Safety/Morality/Welfare Standards Desired
1. There should be traditional circus organ music that plays waltzes, ragtime and marches. A circus without organ music is like a camp without a fire.
2. Show personnel should wear traditional costumes. Ringmasters should wear top hats.
3. There should be clowns in old-fashioned makeup and clothing.
4. At least one horse dancing to organ waltz music is desirable. At least one dog performing somersaults is also desirable so long as the animal is not subject to cruelty.
Morality Standards
5. People with deformities should not be exploited. There should be no freak shows.
Safety Standards
6. Tents or big tops should not be employed as they may pose a fire or collapse hazard. The arena should be outdoors or inside a rigid building.
7. Aerial acrobats, as tightrope walkers, motorcycle high-wire performers and trapeze artists, should only perform over proper and serviceable safety nets with no exceptions. The circus is no place for small children to witness preventable gory falling deaths.
8. Equestrian performers should wear the proper safety helmet for horseback riding.
Humaneness and Welfare Standards
9. Performing animals should be restricted to domestic animals as dogs, horses and camels. It is unethical and dangerous to handlers to keep wild species as lions, tigers and elephants in captivity.
10. No circus animal should be beaten or otherwise treated cruelly during training or during circus ownership. No animal should be made to do tricks it's not willing to do. Animals when transported (as in trains, trucks or airplanes) should always be in a comfortable climate-controlled environment and have plenty of clean bedding and adequate space to lie down flat. Animals should be exercised regularly during long trips over land and have plenty of clean water and food. Animals should be vetted regularly and groomed and bathed regularly.
Some of these standards I favor have to do with the safety of human performers. Some have only to do with the aesthetics of the entertainment but many have to do with the treatment of animals. Before paying any admission to any circus, I would email the circus from their website contact information and ask them questions. I would ask the circus I'm considering to visit whether they meet any of my standards for safety and ethics as outlined above. The circus may or may not reply. If the circus fails to reply, I won't even bother spending my money there. The thing is, I never can know how any circus treats its animals behind the scenes. There doesn't seem to be any government oversight and periodic inspections. Perhaps, circuses can't really operate as a profitable entity by conforming to many of the standards I find as a prospective paying spectator desirable. Making the circus safe and comfortable for its animal and human performers would certainly entail greater overhead costs.
