To the editor:
I am writing in response to the article entitled "Lions hosting three rings of excitement" by Matthew Kirdahy, which was recently published by your paper in reference to the Cole Brothers Circus performances scheduled at the Crossroads Middle School in South Brunswick this month.
The article speaks of the "public" side of circuses, the side that they want everyone to see. The article however, does not mention the animal abuse and the threats to public safety associated with these events.
As per the website of the Animal Protection Institute, a national animal advocacy organization based in Sacramento, Calif., that contains copies of federal Department of Agriculture inspection reports, articles, etc.:
"New Cole Brothers Circus (formerly Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros.) has failed to meet minimal federal standards for the care of animals used in exhibition as established in the Animal Welfare Act. The United States Department of Agriculture has cited Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. numerous times for failure to provide veterinary care, adequate shelter from the elements, and proper food and water, as well as failure to handle animals in a manner that prevents trauma and harm and ensures public safety."
The public needs to be made aware of the terrible treatment of the animals involved in these circuses so that they can make a well-informed decision whether or not to attend and support these types of "entertainment." The animals "are routinely whipped, clubbed, shocked, and beaten into submission, then forced to do demeaning ‘tricks’ for screaming, laughing crowds. In between shows, they are shackled in cages, shipped for hundreds of miles in the freezing cold and sweltering heat only to start the whole miserable cycle over again, for years on end." (Animal Protection Institute)
Articles, such as the one published by your paper, paint the erroneous image of circuses as innocent forms of entertainment and disregard the facts that the care and treatment of animals in circuses is appalling and that animals in circuses pose threats to public safety. The safety of both the animals that are forced to "perform" in these circuses and the people attending and involved in them are placed in jeopardy, as the recent incident with Roy Horn (of Siegfried & Roy) illustrates. In fact, more than 100 people have been seriously injured by captive elephants and nearly 60 have been killed in the last 20 years.
I urge anyone who is contemplating taking their children to one of these events to consider an animal-free circus. Animal-free circuses employ trained, skilled human performers, who put on quite a show, while preserving the safety of those involved and those who attend. There is a growing list of circuses that do not use animals (a list of many of these animal-free circuses is available at www.circuses.com/animalfree.html).
"Animal-free circuses eliminate the possibility of injury or death caused by wild animals," writes the Humane Society of the United States. "There are many entertaining, intelligent and safe alternatives to the abusive and dangerous form of entertainment that traditional animal circuses present."
Dr. T. Tamburello
Dayton
