What do you all think about circuses?

Thanks, Critterblog!

I e-mailed The Minister in my own broken English, but what the hell....

I wrote this:
Dear Minister Sotiris Hadzigakis,

In the last few days a horrible video, showing the abuse of an elephant in a Greek circus has been circulated on the internet and caused quite a stir. From what I have read, You have have made a statement against the barbaric prodecure:

"Associated Press
2009-05-14 11:58 PM Fonts Size:

Greece is considering banning circuses with performing animals, after a video allegedly showing a trainer battering an elephant was posted on YouTube.

Agriculture Minister Sotiris Hadzigakis says the incident "is out of tune with our culture."

Posted on YouTube and on Greek blogs, the video shows a man repeatedly hitting an elephant over the head with a hooked pole before a Circo Massimo performance in the northern town of Florina this month.

Hadzigakis said Thursday such behavior "borders on barbarity," while using animals for human entertainment is a thing of the past.

Circus officials refused to comment on the video."

I wholeheartedly applaud Your statement! But I also want to ask: has any practical effort been made to stop this cruelty towards animals at this circus in Greece? Are the actions of the "animal trainer" in question being investigated by the police in Greece?

Kind regards

Dan
 
Ned was sent to the Hohenwald Elephant Sanctuary (meant to be a temporary home until a permanent one was found, since they only keep females). There is an autopsy on their website-poor guy had some digestional problems that didn't help with his recovery :(
 
how awful that this elephant was forced to perform when he was clearly very ill.

thanks for the addressed critterblog. hopefully if enough people contact them something will be done to help.
 
Circuses

I too don't have a problem with circuses as long as the animals are well and kept in good conditions. But i feel wrong for not having a problem with it for some reason =/... i dont know if anyone feels the same way but i do feel like i should be against circuses in general, not just the ones that are responsible for some of the horrible abuse that occurs as shown in some of those videos. I mean you could say that theres nothing wrong with zoo's when deep down you feel there is, because its just not what nature intended. Animals haven't spent millions of years evolving and adapting to sit behind glass, or do tricks to amuse human beings. Obviously zoos are pretty much a saviour for many endangered species as the alternative may have been extinction of genetic disaster; but i don't really think circuses can say they are doing the same thing...
 
hey guys its taken a while for born free to get back to me but here is the reply i got

Dear Anne-Marie,



Thank you for contacting the Born Free Foundation with your concerns.



I can only see one video re the beating of the baby zoo elephant contained in the thread – what was the other one?

so i've emailed the link to the one of the beating of the big elephant too will see what the response is and what they ask me to do :)
 
They'll probably just push for a ban on animal circuses. I doubt anything will happen to the specific animals in the videos, unfortunately :(
 
Look up the great british circus they have three elephants 2 asian 1 african, 7 tigers including a white tiger. lions, zebras, camels, llamas, domestics. they seem to have good living conditions but it still cant be nice with all that moving about.
 
There's a new poll on this, could you put your opinion on there as we're trying to put our previous three threads on the subject into one :)
 
Dartboy said:
Look up the great british circus they have three elephants 2 asian 1 african, 7 tigers including a white tiger. lions, zebras, camels, llamas, domestics. they seem to have good living conditions but it still cant be nice with all that moving about.
Click to expand...

They also have other animals such as reindeer that don't travel with the circus.
 
part of an email from born free :mad:

Regarding the footage of the elephant being beaten at Massimo circus in Greece; we have been working closely with colleagues in Greece to find out more about the incident and to push for the strongest penalties for the trainer. Unfortunately, the latest information we have is that the elephant in the footage and the trainer are both no longer in Greece and are back in Italy. This would make it very difficult for any legal action to be taken in this instance. However, I'm sure that in the light of this incident, you share our conviction that the only way to categorically prevent such abuse is to end the use of wild animals in circuses in Greece and other European countries. Incidences of such direct cruelty are not the only concern regarding the use of animals in circuses - it is abundantly clear that the repeated loading and unloading, transport by road and restricted living environments (beast-wagons or temporary enclosures) subject animals in circuses to a host of challenges not faced by animals in the most simple of zoos, and that the animals welfare is compromised as a result. Sadly, we feel that the recent report by the chairman of the Defra-appointed Circus Working Group was fundamentally flawed both in fact and in legal opinion, but it has compounded the argument and consequently we are facing extreme difficulties in discussing the potential animal welfare problems with the use of wild animals in circuses with the authorities in the UK.
 
What did I say, you try and they still just try and make every circus or zoo seem evil :rolleyes: Surely they'd be better to concentrate on the bad ones and actually get that work done as opposed to trying to stop it altogether?
 
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