Circuses

Most circuses claim to treat their animals well, and train them without using harsh methods. This probably does apply to animals such as performing dogs and horses, but when it comes to wilder animals like tigers and elephants the reality is often quite different. For example, when one goes to see lions in a circus act, the trainer usually has a whip and pointed pole to keep the lions away if they seem agressive. The only way the lions will know to keep back when the whip or stick is raised is if they've been trained to be afraid of it. I don't think this is an acceptable way of getting a creature to do what you want.

This month, a Sri-Lankan circus elephant, Anne, was moved to Longleat safari park in Wiltshire, after her owners were prosecuted with not seeing to her needs and repeatedly allowing for her to be beaten. These are offences under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act. The arthritic fifty-eight year-old pachyderm had been in the Bobby Roberts Super Circus since the 1950s. (I got this information from here.) Elephants are made learn tricks by being prodded with sharp rods and shocked with electric currents as babies.

As circuses are constantly on the move, the animals are crammed into trailers and boxcars for hours on end. It's not quite as bad for animals like horses dogs as they can be let out and allowed to move around in fields once the circus' destination has been reached. However, primates, large felines and elephants, who are potentially dangerous to performers and passers-by, are never allowed to wander around ouside. In the wild these animals would travel many miles daily, running free whenever and wherever they want to. As a result, these captive animals tend to be overweight and unfit due to lack of exercise.

In my opinion, a circus is much more enjoyable when it only involves human performers, such as Cirque du Soleil, because it means I'm not worrying about the welfare of the animals. Animal-friendly circuses are a much better option and are becoming more popular nowadays, so perhaps circuses with animals won't be around much longer.

The photo of the baby elephant is featured here and I copied it from here.

Fur

Many people see fur as a fashion statement, something that suggests wealth. However, I see fur as a disgraceful alternative to synthetic materials, and makes me feel sick.

It was all very well and good back in historical times when the plastics used to make faux (fake) fur hadn't yet been discovered and fur was essential for warmth. Nowadays I find it shocking that animals are murdered so humans can wear their skin as a symbol of class. I don't have a such problem with leather, as the meat of the cow will be used as food, and I'm no vegetarian. But when an animal is cruelly killed for just its fur it's just wrong! Can you imagine the outrage and disgust there would be if a fox killed a human and then proceeded to wear its skin as a collar? There would be chaos, and the fox would undoubtedly be put down.

Fur companies use horrifying methods to trap and kill the animals. They are often caught in a steel-jaw trap, which snaps shut on the animal's limbs, trapping them. The animal sometimes tries to gnaw off its own leg in its struggle to escape. This struggle can go on for hours, until the person who set the trap comes along, or the animal dies of shock or exhaustion. Water-traps catch the animal and cause it to drown agonisingly slowly.

On fur farms, such as in China, hundreds of animals are bred and suffer in horrendous conditions before being killed for their fur. They're often hideously killed by gas and electric shocks so the fur isn't damaged in the process. There is no law that prevents these cruel methods, so it is legal to be brutal to and torment the poor creatures.

I hope that the law will be changed because of protests against these things, and animal welfare will improve greatly due to this.

SeaWorld - Killer Whales

SeaWorld has recently been sued by the animal rights organisation PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). They were sued because their treatment of five whales (Corky, Katina, Ulises, Tilikum and Kasatka) apparently violates the rights of killer whales  in captivity stated in the US Constitution. There are nineteen orca whales held in the three SeaWorld centres, and these five are from SeaWorlds San Diego and Orlando.

Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA, stated "All five of these orcas were violently seized from the ocean and taken from their families as babies." Due to this treatment the whales can be violent towards trainers, and despite the many incidents, including the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, the whales are still kept in captivity for the entertainment of humans.

Wild animals of this size should not be kept in captivity, they should be allowed to roam free in open waters, as they are meant to. I feel that is always better to see animals enjoying themselves in their natural habitats, rather than in a display cage or tank.

I got the photo from here.

Whaling - The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is a international environmental agreement that aimed to properly regulate whaling and the amount of whales that are bred, so that whales could still be hunted without endangering the animal. It was signed by fifteen nations in December 1946 and came into effect two years later.

However, much illegal whale-hunting is carried out in the world. The main country in which illegal whaling takes place is Japan. It is estimated that over one thousand whales are deliberately killed every year by a Japanese whaling fleet. This fleet is sent to Antartica with the intention of killing these whales for 'scientific research'. In reality though, they are murdered for their meat. However, they get away with it because it is technically allowed, owing to a loophole in the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, set up by the  International Whaling Commission (IWC).

The picture is the IWC's logo which can be seen on their website.

Bullfighting

Bullfighting is an horrendously cruel sport. A traditional bullfight involves the matador (bullfighter) taunting the bull with a cape so it becomes angry and frustrated when it cannot get the cape. The bull is then stabbed by other men with metal rods, in its back and shoulder which means it can't lift its head to defend itself. The bull is in a considerable amount of pain at this stage and becomes more and more exhausted as it tries to escape the torture. It also has lost a lot of blood from the wounds. Then it is attacked with colourful darts, called banderillas. The matador makes a reapperance for the "finale", in which he stabs the animal with a vicious death blow. If he fails to kill the animal, a trained executionor comes in to finish the job. This prolongs the bull's suffering.

This blood sport is popular in Spain, Portugal, France and some Latin-American countries. In these countries it is seen as part of the culture and tradition, but that in no way justifies the cruelty. Sacrificing humans was a big part of South American countries in history, and has been stopped. Why should murdering animals for entertainment be any different?

On average, a quarter of a million bulls are slaughtered in bullfights each year. This must be stopped.



In September 2011 it was announced that a ban on bullfighting in Catalonia, Spain, would be put into effect on the first of January 2012. This sparked anger in Barcelona, where bullfighting is part of the culture, and fans of this barbaric sport held up signs saying "RIP" at the final fight in Barcelona's Monumental arena, which resulted in the murder of six bulls by Spain's top three matadors. This video talks about this recent news and I got it here.

It is hoped that this ban will spread throughout the world in the near future.

Animal Rights Conferences

In July 2011, the Animal Rights National Conference was held in Los Angeles. It was set up by FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movements) and was sponsored by seventeen other organisations including Mercy for Animals, Compassion Circle and United Poultry Concerns.

The aim of this conference was to target problems such as worldwide animal abuse, supression of animal activism and helping animals that are the among the victims of natural disasters. "Exposing and challenging the daily terror against animals."

Thousands of animal rights activists from forty US states and thirteen different countries were part of the conference and all were welcome to the one hundred sessions that took place, addressing the issues I mentioned above. The sessions were divided into four categories: main issues, organisation, animal abuse, and tactics used to tackle these problems.

There were many different representatives from organisations such as FARM, SAEN (Stop Animal Exploitation Now) and COK (Compassion Over Killing). Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons, also made an appearance.

The picture is of various representatives who were at the conference and I got it from the conference's website.

Welcome

Hello there, humans. This is my blog on animal rights, where I plan to make people aware of the ill-treatment of animals, and what is going on at the moment to help stop this, around the world.

I got a lot of my information from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals website.