The circus rolled through our little valley over the weekend, and the Anderson family did not attend. In fact, we avoided it. Why? I'm glad you asked ... because it had elephants.
A few years ago I noticed that the animals performing looked miserable. They clearly didn't tie a handkerchief holding their most prized possessions to the end of a stick and set out on a journey to experience life under the big top. It was obvious that they were hating every minute of it, so I vowed to never again give my money to any of these traveling freak shows that employed anything other than my own species.
When I saw all the free admission tickets laying on counters around town, broadcasting the upcoming arrival of entertainment, I was excited. Truth be told, there isn't a whole lot going on here and I was eager to have something out of the ordinary to take the tot to. Unfortunately, a tiny bit of research about the Shrine Circus, and the plans were derailed.
The Shrine Circus is a great organization. In fact, they raise money for your community, and don't actually own any animals (except for dogs, but dogs do tricks voluntarily). They do, however, lease the services of other companies. The company that owned the elephants on display this weekend was the Tarzan Zerbini. The following is just a small excerpt from the numerous pages of information I found about this company:
Tarzan Zerbini Circus has failed to meet minimal federal standards for the care of animals used in exhibition as established in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has cited Tarzan Zerbini for failure to provide a veterinary care program and medical records, failure to provide minimum space, and failure to properly maintain transport vehicles. Animals used by Tarzan Zerbini have caused serious injury to children.
If how the animals themselves are treated doesn't bother you, I feel I should mention that this specific company's elephants have had a reoccurring tuberculosis problem (most likely a result of their inability to move sufficiently enough within their cramped quarters).
I find this kind of information simultaneously horrible and heartbreaking, thus my need to vent. I am by no means condemning those who did attend, and certainly not circuses in general. I just wish there were more animal-friendly entertainment choices. I mean, who isn't entertained by the motorcyclists in the giant steel ball? Or the half naked girls hanging off a long flowy piece of fabric? I know I am.
*If you are interested in more information, and extremely brave because the above was just the tip of the iceberg, you can find it here. You can also simply check to see if the entertainment coming to your town is on the naughty list here.
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