Circus rescues

Davdhole

Davdhole

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I want to own a zoo/ animal park when I get older, but the owning a whole park talk is for another time. I mentioned this because I've always thought it would be nice to get animals rescued from circuses (if animals are still in them by then), as well as other large exotic animals kept illegally or carelessly as pets, in addition to getting animals from other zoos. I've always imagined taking in all the tigers and lions and elephants and whatever else has to perform, which leads me to my question. Do zoos/ sanctuaries offer a price for the animals to a circus that is hard for them to refuse, or would the circus have to be shut down in order for the animals to go elsewhere? I know it's a dumb question but I honestly wondered if someone who had a facility and wanted to bring these animals in from a life of performing, how would this go?
 
I doubt many circus animals go to zoos. The genetic history behind them would be unknown, so they couldn't be used for breeding. Some sort of rescue/sanctuary would be more likely.
 
Davdhole said:
I want to own a zoo/ animal park when I get older, but the owning a whole park talk is for another time. I mentioned this because I've always thought it would be nice to get animals rescued from circuses (if animals are still in them by then), as well as other large exotic animals kept illegally or carelessly as pets, in addition to getting animals from other zoos. I've always imagined taking in all the tigers and lions and elephants and whatever else has to perform, which leads me to my question. Do zoos/ sanctuaries offer a price for the animals to a circus that is hard for them to refuse, or would the circus have to be shut down in order for the animals to go elsewhere? I know it's a dumb question but I honestly wondered if someone who had a facility and wanted to bring these animals in from a life of performing, how would this go?
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If the zoo wanted an animal from a circus, they would need to have first developed good relationships with the circus owners to purchase the animals or the local governments who could help with relocating animals from closed circuses. I agree with EsserWarrior in saying that most modern zoos have no interest in aquiring animals from performing roles. The only animals I can think that has happened with are non breeding elephants that have been acquired by some zoos as a retirement home of sorts. It all depends on the zoo and the individual animals and if they meet the goals of the zoo.
 
birdsandbats said:
It also depends on the circus. Most circuses aren't the terrible prisons the media and PETA makes them out to be. Not all circus animals need to be rescued.
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I must admit, I did think about this after posting, since PETA does tend to use lies to get their way. This could be true, as it can be unfair to judge all circuses on a few bad ones that, for all we knowm could possibly be better than they are represented. On an off topic note, may I know the species of bird that is in your profile pic? I've never seen anything like it and when I described it in Google, nothing that resembled it that much came up.
 
Davdhole said:
I must admit, I did think about this after posting, since PETA does tend to use lies to get their way. This could be true, as it can be unfair to judge all circuses on a few bad ones that, for all we knowm could possibly be better than they are represented. On an off topic note, may I know the species of bird that is in your profile pic? I've never seen anything like it and when I described it in Google, nothing that resembled it that much came up.
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It's a Goldie's Lorikeet.
 
Davdhole said:
I want to own a zoo/ animal park when I get older, but the owning a whole park talk is for another time. I mentioned this because I've always thought it would be nice to get animals rescued from circuses (if animals are still in them by then), as well as other large exotic animals kept illegally or carelessly as pets, in addition to getting animals from other zoos. I've always imagined taking in all the tigers and lions and elephants and whatever else has to perform, which leads me to my question. Do zoos/ sanctuaries offer a price for the animals to a circus that is hard for them to refuse, or would the circus have to be shut down in order for the animals to go elsewhere? I know it's a dumb question but I honestly wondered if someone who had a facility and wanted to bring these animals in from a life of performing, how would this go?
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You're asking questions that the two big sanctuaries in the country probably asked and solved when they opened their doors around two decades ago. The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, TN and the Performing Arts Welfare Society (PAWS) in CA, which started as a rescue for animals performing in movies and TV. They had a lot of interest--and new occupants--as activists pressured zoos to close their elephant exhibits and a large supplier of circus elephants was forced to relinquish a large number of elephants. Since then, however, their populations have been decreasing, and the few elephant exhibits that do close have been sending their elephants to other AZA zoos instead of sanctuaries. Those that are left in sanctuaries are older and are gradually dying. Certainly neither of these sanctuaries--one is 3,200 acres and the other has three different faciluties--would be able to procure donations and remain open if there were no longer any residents, and then activist organization's would have difficulty claiming elephants should be moved to Sanctuaries if none exist. This started to make me wonder recently if the activists are working closely with the Sanctuaries to keep them open. How? Well, if zoos will no longer send their animals to Sanctuaries, the only place to get animals is from circuses or private owners. I think it's entirely possible that the activist-sanctuaries have started some intensive efforts to save their organization's by approaching animal owners directly, offering large amounts to buy their animals. If the sanctuary population disappears, then Sanctuaries, and so do activist organizations, because they no longer have somewhere they can send animals they want out of zoos. I bet the efforts have been well underway to offer big money for circus owners to sell their elephants. There's another new elephant sanctuary ready to open in FL, but from where I sit, need for it is disappearing.
 
birdsandbats said:
It also depends on the circus. Most circuses aren't the terrible prisons the media and PETA makes them out to be. Not all circus animals need to be rescued.
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Just to ask, how do circuses provide large amounts of land to their animals, like zoos? I guess this really depends on what you define as a circus...
 
Junklekitteb said:
Just to ask, how do circuses provide large amounts of land to their animals, like zoos? I guess this really depends on what you define as a circus...
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Well, it does. :p In the off-season circuses have quite large tracks of land for the elephants, and even in the season when shows are done the elephants only do a few shows before they are brought back. But, again, it does depend on the circus and the individual elephant. Some elephants are more comfortable with lots of shows in a row than others.
 
It is fairly common for zoos in this region (South America / Latin America) to receive animals (Mainly large Asian and African megafauna : apes, elephants , lions , tigers etc.) that have been rescued or confiscated from circuses by authorities.Ironically some of these historically rescued animals years later become the focal point of "animal rights" activist campaigns to free them from "cruel conditions" in zoos.

When this occurs the role that a zoo played in rehousing animals rescued from ACTUAL cruel and inhumane conditions is conveniently forgotten by these "heroic" armchair / social media "activists" who are of course also world renowned authorities on the captive husbandry of animals and conservation by some mysterious metric that eludes scrutiny...

Maybe by virtue of being vegans or because Ricky Gervais / Pamela Anderson / Lady Gaga / Russell Brand / Simon Cowell said on social media that "Zoos are really really bad" (insert the interchangable name of any feckless banal celebrity here) or perhaps their 5000 twitter posts and subscription to PETA's facebook page. I dont know what the metric that qualifies these impassioned warriors of justice for "Animal rights" as "experts" is but they certainly seem to... think... that they know more than actual conservation biologists and zoos.
 
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AmbikaFan said:
You're asking questions that the two big sanctuaries in the country probably asked and solved when they opened their doors around two decades ago. The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, TN and the Performing Arts Welfare Society (PAWS) in CA, which started as a rescue for animals performing in movies and TV. They had a lot of interest--and new occupants--as activists pressured zoos to close their elephant exhibits and a large supplier of circus elephants was forced to relinquish a large number of elephants. Since then, however, their populations have been decreasing, and the few elephant exhibits that do close have been sending their elephants to other AZA zoos instead of sanctuaries. Those that are left in sanctuaries are older and are gradually dying. Certainly neither of these sanctuaries--one is 3,200 acres and the other has three different faciluties--would be able to procure donations and remain open if there were no longer any residents, and then activist organization's would have difficulty claiming elephants should be moved to Sanctuaries if none exist. This started to make me wonder recently if the activists are working closely with the Sanctuaries to keep them open. How? Well, if zoos will no longer send their animals to Sanctuaries, the only place to get animals is from circuses or private owners. I think it's entirely possible that the activist-sanctuaries have started some intensive efforts to save their organization's by approaching animal owners directly, offering large amounts to buy their animals. If the sanctuary population disappears, then Sanctuaries, and so do activist organizations, because they no longer have somewhere they can send animals they want out of zoos. I bet the efforts have been well underway to offer big money for circus owners to sell their elephants. There's another new elephant sanctuary ready to open in FL, but from where I sit, need for it is disappearing.
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I realize I should have added some details to my post above. The Elephant Sanctuary was co-founded in 1995 by Carol Buckley on 100 acres to provide a lifelong home for her own elephant Tarra, who had performed with her. Buckley and co:founder Scott Blais developed this into a 2700-acre facility for Asian elephants, African elephants, and elephants in TB quarantine. Gradually, they started to follow AZA guidelines like protected contact, and zoos around the country didn't hesitate to hire TEC keepers.

Fast-forward:. It's 2020, and neither Carol Buckley nor Scott Blas's name even appear in the Wikipedia entry about the sanctuary. A board of directors, filled with prominent anti-zoo types and people with money, fired Buckley from her own organization because she would not publicly falsify a TB test. This founder, respected in the industry, has been separated from the organization she founded--and her very own elephant-- by a board that clearly has bigger objectives than caring for aging, ex-circus and zoo elephants. Co-founder Scott Blais is gone too, trying now found a global elephant sanctuary. I would be stunned if this were not a purely activist-run PR operation now.
 
EsserWarrior said:
I doubt many circus animals go to zoos. The genetic history behind them would be unknown, so they couldn't be used for breeding. Some sort of rescue/sanctuary would be more likely.
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And for some species, such as chimpanzees, the individuals raised in entertainment environments sometimes struggle to interact in more normal social groups like zoos try to simulate.

If a place that "rescues" animals is paying a lot of money to buy them from bad owners, that's really counterproductive to the mission and you should question whether that place is legit. Buying animals from bad situations only encourages those people to continue breeding or capturing animals to put them in that position. (I'll admit I'm not an expert on the subject so maybe there are situations where it's the appropriate thing to do. But in general, it's advised not to do it)

From the sanctuaries (and zoos that rescue animals) that I follow, it seems like a lot of them are approached by owners who want to give up the animal, or by whatever legal authorities have seized or rescued the animal. It would still help to make your facility known, though. People can't surrender their animals to your place if they don't know that it exists.
 
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