ACRES
Animal Concerns Research and Education Society
www.acres.org.sg
Wildlife Crime Hotline: 9783 7782 (for reporting illegal trading/ ownership of wild animal)
Email: info@acres.org.sg
Session: Feb 9, 1730-1930h
Animals Used In Entertainment
Animals are frequently exploited in many different ways purely for human ‘entertainment’. You can help to end this exploitation and cruelty by choosing not to watch any spectacle involving performing animals and choosing not to patronize any place that exploits animals by using them as “photo props” or by making them perform.
Circuses and animal shows
The best and most exciting circuses in the world rely exclusively upon human skills, rather than forcing animals to perform demeaning tricks. Animals forced into entertainment, like cycling bears, golfing orang utans and fire-hoop jumping tigers, endure enormous stress and pain. Their training methods include beatings, food deprivation, drugging and painfully removing or impairing their teeth and claws. Often, they are not given adequate housing or care and live in appalling conditions when not performing.
Animal photography
A common practice seen at holiday destinations is the use of animals such as baby monkeys, gibbons, snakes and iguanas as ‘photo props’. Most of the baby animals being paraded on the streets for tourists to take their photo with have been taken from the wild, their whole family being killed in the process. Some zoos also offer photography sessions with wild animals, subjecting the animals to unnatural stresses.
Marine parks
Many captive animals suffer from mental stress, and dolphins and orcas (killer whales) suffer particularly badly in captivity, for they are extremely social, intelligent and active animals and roam large distances in the wild. In marine parks all over the world, dolphins and orcas, many of whom have been captured from the wild, suffer greatly from the confines of captivity and are also forced to perform demeaning tricks and participate in ‘petting sessions’ which are highly stressful for them. Training methods for shows and petting sessions may involve food deprivation or physical abuse.
Elephant parks
Sadly, there are many elephant parks in countries such as Thailand where elephants are exploited by being made to perform tricks, paint pictures, play football and give rides to tourists. The tricks they are made to perform cause them extreme discomfort and elephants who are ordered to stand on two front legs or on a small box to entertain tourists and locals will likely have bone disorders when older. Most elephant resorts pay little or no attention to animal welfare. Elephants have to work long hours with not enough to eat or time to rest. House vets are virtually unheard of and medical attention is usually given only when the animal is already sick.
When not performing, elephants are confined in short chains for the rest of the day. This results in long term neurotic behaviour, observable when an elephant sways its head side to side all the time. Baby elephants, many of whom are captured from the wild or who are separated from their mothers at a very young age, are trained and ‘tamed’ using very cruel methods. Many Thai elephant trainers still believe in excessive force like tight cuffs on all four legs to discipline young calves and the use of a spike hammer for punishment. They may even be fed with beer and amphetamines for the entertainment of tourists.
Join us in the InfoBus today to know how you can play your part in making sure animals are not exploited for our entertainment.
