I remember going to the circus when I was younger and being so excited to see the elephants. With their tricks and beautiful costumes, the elephants at the circus were my favorite part.

This is before I learned the circus industry uses animals as their own personal ATM and in turn, the animals in the circus live a life filled with boredom, stress and pain.

Circus animals spend most of their lives behind bars. Babies have torn away from their mothers at a young age, and physical punishment is the standard method of training. A wild elephant can roam over 50 miles a day while a circus elephant is subjected to a 5-foot chain for most of her days.

When circus animals aren’t being chained up, beaten, whipped or electrocuted to perform tricks, they are put into small cages and traveling carts to get to their next performance location.

Today, many people already realize we need stop supporting animal cruelty circuses, but there are others who still want to support animal performances in the circus.

Below are some of the arguments I have witnessed as to why we should keep animals in the circus and my responses to those arguments:

“Circus trainers love their animals.”

Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t. But that should not matter. Forcing wild animals to perform often dangerous tricks (like balancing on a balance beam or jumping through hoops) for a profit is sickening. If circus trainers really loved their animals, wouldn’t they want them to be happy?

“The animals in the circus are only trained to do tricks they can perform naturally.”

This is untrue. In reality, animals in the wild spend time eating, sleeping and caring for their babies. Costumed bears lying on their backs spinning balls and elephants walking on their hind legs and balancing on their heads are not natural behaviors.

And how do you think they train the animals to do this? It’s not with treats and love. It’s with electric zappers and whips.

“Circuses are a learning experience for children.”

What exactly are our children learning by going to the circus? Back in the early 1900’s maybe the circus was the only way children were able to see live animals.

Today we have the Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and the internet that can teach children about how animals really act in nature.

Don’t you want to raise your children with a mindset of being kind to animals and to treat animals with respect?

Children, like myself as a child, find the circus to be a magical place. They are not wired to see the evil in the world and realize on their own that the animals are treated cruelly. It is the parents’ responsibility to stop the circus from brainwashing children.

“Who cares?”

This is the response that breaks my heart. Some people are aware of the abuse the animals face in the circus, but simply don’t care. They think that animal circuses should not be banned because they are entertaining and something families can do together.

It might be cute and entertaining to see the animals up-close-and-personal in costumes doing tricks, but what about the guilt associated with the pain you’re causing this animal to suffer through every day in its life?

YOU can make a difference

1.) Stop going to any circus with animal performances in them.

2.) You can support animal-free circuses such as Big Top Out of the Box, Bindlestiff Family Circus, and Circus Garden.

3.) You can write a letter to local newspapers when the circus comes to your town to raise awareness about the issue.

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In May 2016 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Biley’s announced that they would no longer include Elephant performances in their circuses. Since the drop of the elephant shows, the ticket sales for the circus have decreased significantly, so much so that they are going out of business in 2017.

After decades of animal abuse, I do not feel bad that the tradition of the Ringling Brothers Circus is coming to an end. I am thankful.