Photo courtesy of
Behind the Scenes:
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Circuses: Pros: -Entertainment/amusement -Education -Animals are kept safe/ healthy with regimented food and medication that they wouldn’t get in the wild. 6 - An exhibit could be brought near you. 6 Cons: -Animals are forced to do the tricks. 7 -Animals are kept in cages while circuses travel. 7 -Animals are taken away from their families and become lonely and sad. 8 -Animal abuse (some whip and beat animals). 7 -Not much is learned by watching animals perform tricks that they’ve been taught by trainers, best way to learn about animals is to see them in their natural habitat. 8 -Public safety hazard b/c animals are unpredictable/animals often become violent or aggressive towards people because they experience such harsh conditions, so people could get hurt. 8 - Travel and transport, close confinement and restricted movement, restrictions on natural behaviors and inappropriate social groupings of animals. 7 |
Sanctuaries: Pros: -Allow for a permanent home for animals, but instead of an enclosure, they are able to roam around. 4 - Animals are living on land that stretches for between 30 to 2,000 acres. 4 -Animals are able to keep their all of their natural instincts intact. 4 -They are not influenced by the small space or the human interaction that happens while residing in a zoo/circus. 5 -Animals live the same life they would live in the wild with the human observation still able to occur. 5 -Workers/Volunteers help to rehabilitate animals if need be and then release them back into the ‘wild’ (sanctuary) as soon as possible. 4 Cons: -Animals may not allows be able to be seen from look-out spot. 4 -No human interaction is able to occur because they are fully wild animals. 5 -May not always get an up-close and personal experience. 4 Below it can be seen how beneficial sanctuaries can be for animals opposed to their conditions in zoos/circuses. Chart courtesy of the IDA. |
The Alternatives: Sanctuaries and SafarisSafaris:
Pros: - Gives the same effects of going to a zoo while in an animal's natural environment 1 - You get to see animals in their natural habitat (how they really act, what they're really like, etc.) 2 - The animals won't be harmed by human interaction in any way. 1 - Animals won't develop any physical or mental disabilities due to human actions that they experience when involved with people. (i.e. harm from being in a cage) 1 - Animals will live longer and healthier lives because they won't be abused mentally or physically by humans (workers, observers, etc.) 1 Cons: -Viewers don't always get to see the animals up close. 3 - Could potentially eliminate jobs for zoo and circus employees. 3 |