This got me to wondering what the real difference between zoos keeping elephants and circuses keeping elephants is, ditto lions, tigers, etc.
From my very personal point of view;
I would say elephant on circus:
1
1A environment:
* have totally less space to use, when unchained.
*have limited possibilities to keep bulls.
1B management:
* spend more time on chains, than zoo elephants.
* can eat more food (spending more time eating) since they also consume the energy while working.
*depending on which circus, and degree of training, can be walked around, like spending time in a lake or river at various places.
* how much more training and care attention, often more than four people work every day, and often until late evenings (6 or 7-sometimes 10 am), providing food.
*are more often taken care of by uneducated, poor people, who at least in he past, carried for example tuberculosis, why more circus elephants have TB.
*are less aggressive, since they are tended much more instensive, by so many people daily.
* are managed in a traditional way which in modern view, have drawbacks, like the lack of enrichment.
* need less enrichment if they are worked intensively.
*are always managed in free contact why most human manipulation, like medical care etc , most often can be performed without major problems, or sedatives.
*More manpower, and better possibilities to select people with natural talent to work dangerous animals.
1C social life
* have less social interaction between individuals.
*have less conflicts within the heard, partly becasue of the human manipulation, that keep the elephants in better control.
*today, in most places have less breeding, even if circuses bred elephants before zoos did.
1D physical, medical, mental
* have less veterinary attention.
*have less need of veterinary attention.
* paradoxily, in spite of that they are chained longer times, on wooden platforms, they seldom experience damaged joints from cold and hard floor, and many asian elephants actually get very old on circuses.
*african elephants, have for some reasons, a shorter life time on circus.
* when not trained, or walked, spend more time passive, and bored.
*when trained and walked, gets much more stimulation than in zoos.
*show more sterotypical behavior, e.g. rocking.
* have better muscles, and are mostly more bodily fit.
* show less stress measured in blood, when experiencing not daily activities, like transport, or being in new situations, new environments.
I would say elephant in zoos:
2A environment:
*have more space to use, during working hours 7pm-4am, or 8pm-5am.
*have better possibilities to keep bulls.
2B management:
* more affected by welfare people, and sometimes elephants are put in PC, which not needlessly gained anything positive with this change.
*spend less time on chains.
*need more enrichment.
*have more educated staff in zoology, but often with less talent to work dangerous animals in free contact. Theres lesser possibilities for zoos to keep training experts, and head keepers often get their rank because of social political reasons.
2C social life
*have more social interaction between individuals.
* have more conflicts within the group, since keeper have less possibilities to control the elephants, espcially in PC, then social problems within the herd, are mostly solved by isolate some individuals, confined from each other.
*are more often being transfered to protected contact, where less care and manipulation can be done.
*have more breeding
2D physical, medical, mental
* have more veterinary attention.
*have more need of veterinary attention.
*have more often foot and joint problems, since they spend more time on hard surfaces, like concrete floors.
*asians generally lives shorter time than on circus.
*africans generally lives longer time than on circus.
* spend less time totally bored, but also less time, really stimuted.
*show less stereotypical behaviour.
* have less muscles, and are mostly less bodily fit, often overweighted and fat, which also cause more joint problems, espcially in combination of arthritis.
* gets easier stressed in unusal situations.
*are more dependant on drugs for medical manipulation.
I see drwabcks with both systems, and if the circus today would not be such an infected political issue, I think actually some zoo elephants would benefit a lot, if they would every second, or third summer, on circus, while some elephants on circus would benefit from getting 1-2 years pauses in a zoo now and then.
Such arrangments were possible in the past, when it was more or less the same elephants, and the same people taking care of them, in zoos and circuses.
Today, because of welfare critisism, by people who actuallty never worked a single elephant, zoos take a distance to circuses, becasue of political issues, and walls have been bulit between the wto business, making any kind of exchange of animals, ideas, training concepts etc impossible.
Before, rather often, the wto instituition models could actually help and support each other, today they can not, increasing problems, on both sides.
Summarize, I think elephants on circuses are much healthier, and more alert, but also spend much more time bored. But they are worked more intensively, and have less agression towards keepers,
Zoo elephants are less healthier, less alert, more apathic, but visually between 8 and 5, where they are atteneded by keepers and are outside in enclosure, are less bored. Zoo elephants have more agression toward keepers, who have to run bewteen hippos, giraffes, rhinos etc, and seldom are given proper time for training, resulting in more conflicts between elephants and keepers, and elephants and elephants.
Circuses are today somewhat put in a shame corner, while they in reality provided zoos with most management and training knowledge.
When only regarding elephants, it could be said that circuses is the mother of zoos. Today they can not more communicate or cooperate, and this has been a general drwback for both concepts. Because even if the world changes, and attitudes change, sometimes mom knows best, and can solve issues that children suffer from, even if those children are more well educated, and more modern....
Circuses today could also benefit from more theoreticl education from zoos, and more input to modernize the general view on management.
Not mentioned by David here, is animal brookers. They have almost disapeared today in regard to elephants, since it has likevise become a political issue, and may zoos fear to cooperate with brookers, by importing, and in exchange programs. But in the past, brookers like Hagenbecks (who had all three concepts, capture stations, zoos and circuses) Firma Ruhe and others, had competence collected from often more than 2 generations, and their expertise was a benefit for selection of animals, choice of individuals, and they even sometimes had unique medical knowledge about elephants, which today is completely lost. As a result, imports, transports and exchange today are much more problemtic, since not every zoo not has expertise in this.
Generally, welfare groups consists of people with good wishes, but limited competence, and although not openly, they are against all captive keeping of "wild" species. They have not reached their goal, and hopefully never will, but they have created a lot of damage concearning a number of issues, which would have been easier solved in the past, when communication bridges, and cooperation, was natural, between zoos, circuses, and brookers/dealers.
becasue of this, I belive that more elephant individuals suffer nedlessy today, becasue the different institutions can not, or may not, cooperate.
