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In natural environments females become ready to mate at about 20 years of age. In circuses they are forced into pregnancy as young as 7 years old, when in the wild they would still be with their mothers. Naturally, older more experienced mothers help first time mothers in labor and in caring for their babies. In circuses they are chained while in labor, and minutes after they give birth, the babies are torn away from their mothers never being able to see them again.

Elephants are normally taken illegally from the wild. People kill the mothers and steal the babies and force them into what can only be compared to slavery. Elephants also have to live through vicious beatings with bats, clubs, electric rods, and long sticks with sharp points at the end that puncture the elephant's skin while training them to perform.

So please sign to stop circuses from using elephants.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/658028873

The majority of elephants used in circuses were captured in the wild when they were babies. In 2000, poachers killed 60 free-roaming female elephants so that their babies could be collected and sold to the entertainment industry. The still-nursing elephants, all under the age of 3, refused to abandon their dead mothers, even attempting to suckle from their corpses.

Elephants are chained in dirty railroad cars for the majority of their lives, often with no heat or air conditioning, left to bake in the sun.

They are purposely kept dehydrated to reduce the mess; elephants need 50 gallons of water a day.

Even when they are not in transit, elephants are usually chained; male elephants, because they are more difficult to control, are permanently kept chained.

As punishment, all four legs are chained, rendering the elephant immobile.

Elephants are kept isolated from contact with other elephants; for these highly social animals, this is very stressful.

Bull hooks, electric prods, pitchforks, and blowtorches are just a few of the standard tools used to 'train' elephants. These methods are so common that Ringling employs someone to apply a powder to conceal the wounds and stop the bleeding of elephants that have been hooked too hard so that the injuries are not visible during the show. This is called "spot work."

WARNING THIS IS DISTURBING VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zDfEaYaI08


OTHER PETITIONS ABOUT CIRCUSES THAT SHOULD BE SIGNED:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-using-animals-in-the-circus
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/174130946
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/945552036
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/417982770
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/884081373
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/565180798
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-cruel-circuses
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/272595532
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/257409040
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/697137975
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/781089469
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/730829795



Source: http://www.apnm.org/campaigns/circus/circus_elephants.php

http://www.apnm.org/campaigns/circus/index.php

Riding bikes. Jumping through hoops. Standing on one's head. Dancing. These are things animals in the wild never do.

Animals used in circuses lead extremely stressful and unnatural lives, and are usually beaten and otherwise abused while they are being trained. Lions, tigers, bears, and elephants are wild animals; they will never be completely predictable when performing these unnatural, difficult, and often painful stunts. Trainers use brute force to maintain a position of dominance through fear and humiliation. And when animals are not being trained or performing, they are confined in tiny cages, railroad cars, or trucks for up to 50 weeks each year.

Some defend animal acts with the notion that they entertain children who may never otherwise have a chance to see these animals. But what message does the children take away? Surely it is not one of compassion and respect.

The cruel circus existence is no life for a wild animal.

Circuses are NO Fun for Animals!

Circus animals live in small cages-4 feet by 5 feet by 6 feet. Barely able to move, they are forced to eat, sleep, urinate, and defecate in the same small space.

Because circuses depend on travel, the animals are routinely kept in these cages, traveling thousands of miles, for upwards of 50 weeks a year.

Animals perform out of fear. Standard training methods include burning bears' front paws in order to get them to dance on their back legs and muzzling and chaining bears and big cats in order to break their spirits. Sometimes, animals' teeth are removed in order to make them more 'trainable,' further contributing to confined animals' helplessness. Animals are often intentionally kept unhealthy and miserable; a trainer with Royal Hanneford Circus admitted to the USDA that he keeps chimps in solitary confinement so they will be more 'motivated' to perform when let out.

Training tools include bull hooks, metal pipes, hotshots, and whips, jagged wooden sticks, electric shock collars, as well as fists, elbows, and knees. Because these are wild animals, they will never be completely predictable when performing these unnatural stunts, so trainers use brute force to maintain a position of dominance through fear. An undercover video of Carson & Barnes circus showed trainers attacking elephants with electric prods and bull hooks until they screamed; trainers are instructed to sink the pointed hook into the elephant's flesh until they scream in pain, but to conceal the beatings from the public.

Repetitive and often destructive behaviors such as obsessive swaying, bobbing, chewing, sucking, weaving, rocking, and licking are common in circus animals, and are manifestations of their extreme stress and boredom.

Arthritis and other joint problems are very common in circus animals, caused by their forced immobility. Stress-based ailments such as ulcers also plague circus animals.

Abusive training techniques, lack of socialization and other stimuli, and constant confinement often causes animals to become so stressed that they become dangerous, lashing out at trainers and spectators. Deaths and injuries from such incidents are not uncommon. Since 1990, elephants alone have killed 65 people and injured over 130 more. Other animals have also been responsible for injury and death (and the animals are usually shot or otherwise killed after they attack). The statistics since 1990: captive big cats (51 human deaths, 170 injuries, 82 cats killed because of the attacks), bears (14 human deaths, 8 of which were children, 40 injuries, and 26 bears), and primates (2 human deaths, 140 injuries, and the killing of 450 offending primates). Click here for more information on Circuses & Public Safety.

Animals are leased seasonally by circuses, constantly being transported and 'broken in' by new trainers, perpetuating the cycle of fear and violence even further. Many circuses do not provide routine veterinary care, and animals that are too old or disobedient to be useful to the circuses are permanently relegated to cages, sold to zoos, roadside attractions, game farms to be hunted for their meat, research laboratories, or private individuals, often continuing their abuse.

The Animal Welfare Act provides legal protection for circus animals, but these standards are minimal and rarely enforced. It does not prohibit any kind of training method, including the use of whips, bull hooks, electric prods, or other devices that cause suffering. The Animal Welfare Act mandates that animals have enough room to stand up and turn around, but violations of even this basic standard are commonplace. In a two-year period, Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus was cited for 65 violations of the AWA.

Circuses & Public Safety

The animals are not the only ones in danger at the circus. Due to abusive training techniques and lives far from what nature intended, circus animals often become stressed to the point that they become dangerous, lashing out at trainers and spectators. Deaths and injuries from such incidents are not uncommon. Just look at the statistics since 1990:

Elephants: 65 deaths; 130 injuries

Big Cats: 51 deaths; 170 injuries

Bears: 14 deaths; 40 injuries

Primates: 2 deaths; 140 injuries

While many of the animals involved in these incidents are shot or otherwise killed, others continue to perform. For example: Misty, an elephant owned by the Hawthorn Corporation. Misty killed her trainer in 1983 and injured another in 1996 while giving rides to children. The USDA identified Misty as a "potentially dangerous elephant" in 1995, yet inadequacies in our current federal regulation of exotic animal acts were not able to prevent the 1996 incident. Misty has performed at circuses in New Mexico as recently as 2002.

For lists of incidences of human death and injury at the circus, visit the following web sites:

http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/issues_facing_wildlife/circuses/animal_incidents_at_the_circus.html