Background from bunnysneezes.net
Rodeos are promoted as rough and tough exercises of human skill and courage in conquering the fierce, untamed beasts of the Wild West. In reality, rodeos are nothing more than manipulative displays of human domination over animals, thinly disguised as entertainment. What began in the late 1800s as a skill contest among cowboys has become a show motivated by greed and profit.
The Stunts
Standard rodeo events include calf roping, steer wrestling, bareback horse and bull riding, saddle bronc riding, steer roping, and wild cow milking. The animals used in rodeos are captive performers. Most are relatively tame but understandably distrustful of human beings because of the harsh treatment that they have received. Many of these animals are not aggressive by nature; they are physically provoked into displaying "wild" behavior to make the cowboys look brave.
Tools of Torment
Electric prods, sharp sticks, caustic ointments, and other torturous devices are used to irritate and enrage animals used in rodeos. The flank or "bucking" strap used to make horses and bulls buck is tightly cinched around their abdomens, where there is no rib cage protection. Tightened near the large and small intestines and other vital organs, the belt pinches the groin and genitals. The pain causes the animals to buck, which is what the rodeo promoters want the animal to do in order to put on a good show for the crowds.
Bucking the Myth
In a study conducted by the Humane Society of the United States, two horses known for their gentle temperament were subjected to the use of a flank strap. Both bucked until the strap was removed. Then several rodeo-circuit horses were released from a pen without the usual flank straps and did not buck, illustrating that the "wild," frenzied behavior in the animals is artificially induced by the rodeo cowboys and promoters of rodeo events.
The End of the Trail
Dr. C.G. Haber, a veterinarian who spent 30 years as a federal meat inspector, worked in slaughterhouses and saw many animals discarded from rodeos and sold for slaughter. He described the animals as being "so extensively bruised that the only areas in which the skin was attached (to the flesh) were the head, neck, leg, and belly. I have seen animals with six to eight ribs broken from the spine and at times, puncturing the lungs. I have seen as much as two to three gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin." These injuries are a result of animals’ being thrown in calf-roping events or being jumped on from atop horses during steer wrestling. (1).
Rodeo promoters argue that they must treat their animals well in order to keep them healthy and usable. But this assertion is belied by a statement that Dr. T.K. Hardy, a Texas veterinarian and sometime steer roper, made to Newsweek: "I keep 30 head of cattle around for practice, at $200 a head. You can cripple three or four in an afternoon . . . it gets to be a pretty expensive hobby." (2) Unfortunately, there is a steady supply of newly discarded animals available to rodeo producers when other animals have been worn out or irreparably injured. As Dr. Haber documented, the rodeo circuit is just a detour on the road to the slaughterhouse.
Injuries and Deaths
Although rodeo cowboys voluntarily risk injury by participating in events, the animals they use have no such choice. Because speed is a factor in many rodeo events, the risk of accidents is high.
A terrified, squealing young horse burst from the chutes at the Can-Am Rodeo and within five seconds slammed into a fence and broke her neck. Bystanders knew that she was dead when they heard her neck crack, yet the announcer told the crowd that everything would "be all right" because a vet would see her.(3) Sadly, incidents such as this are not uncommon at rodeos. For example, in 1999, three men and seven horses died at the Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada.
In San Antonio, yet another frightened horse snapped his spine.(4) Witnesses report that the horse dragged himself, paralyzed, across the stadium by his front legs before collapsing. During the National Western Stock Show, a horse crashed into a wall and broke his neck, while still another horse broke his back after being forced to buck.(5) Bucking horses often develop back problems from the repeated poundings they endure. Because horses do not normally jump up and down, there is also the risk of leg injury when a tendon tears or snaps.(6)
Calves roped while running up to 27 miles per hour routinely have their necks snapped back by the lasso, often resulting in neck and back injuries, bruises, broken bones, and internal hemorrhages. Calves have become paralyzed from severe spinal cord injury, and their tracheas may be totally or partially severed.(7) Even San Antonio Livestock Exposition Executive Director Keith Martin agrees that calf roping is inhumane. Says Martin, "Do I think it hurts the calf? Sure I do. I’m not stupid."(8) At the Connecticut Make-A-Wish Rodeo, one steer’s neck was forcefully twisted until it broke.(9) Calves are only used in one rodeo before they are returned to the ranch or destroyed because of injuries.(10) Frequently, animals break loose from their pens and escape. They are often shot by police unfamiliar with and untrained in capturing livestock.
Rodeo association rules are not effective in preventing injuries and are not strictly enforced, nor are penalties severe enough to deter abusive treatment. For example, if a calf is injured during the contest, the only penalty is that the roper will not be allowed to rope another calf in that event on that day. If the roper drags the calf, he or she might be disqualified. There are no rules protecting animals during practice, and there are no objective observers or examinations required to determine if an animal is injured in an event.(11)
Spurn the Spurs
If a rodeo comes to your town, protest to local authorities, write letters to sponsors, leaflet at the gate, or hold a demonstration. Contact PETA for posters and fliers.
Check state and local laws to find out what types of activities involving animals are and are not legal in your area. For example, a Pittsburgh law prohibiting cruelty to rodeo animals in effect banned rodeos altogether, since most rodeos currently touring the country use the electric prods and flank straps prohibited by the law.(12) Another successful means of banning rodeos is to institute a state or local ban on calf roping, the event in which cruelty is most easily documented. Since many rodeo circuits require calf roping, its elimination can result in the overall elimination of rodeo shows.
References
1. Humane Society of the United States, Interview with C.G. Haber, D.V.M (Rossburg, Ohio), 1979.
2. "Rodeo: American Tragedy or Legalized Cruelty?" The Animals’ Agenda, Mar. 1990.
3. "Bucking Bronco Dies in Corel Centre Rodeo," The Ottawa Citizen, 9 Aug. 1999.
4. "Choosing Champions," San Antonio Express-News, 6 Feb. 2000.
5. The Denver Post, 16 Jan. 1999.
6. Steve Lipsher, "Veterinarian Calls Rodeos Brutal to Stock," Denver Post, 20 Jan. 1991.
7. Dr. E.J. Finocchio. D.V.M., Letter to Rhode Island State Legislature, 28 Feb. 1989.
8. "Choosing Champions."
9. The Hartford Courant, 2 Jun. 1998.
10. "Rodeo Critics Call It ‘Legalized Cruelty,’" San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Jun. 1981.
11. International Professional Rodeo Association, "The Care and Protection of Rodeo Livestock."
12. Jon Schmitz, "Council Bucks Masloff’s Veto on Rodeo Bill," Pittsburgh Press, 27 Nov. 1990.
Greyhound Racing: Death in the Fast Lane
Winners and Losers
An estimated 28,000 greyhounds are killed each year as the greyhound racing business struggles to stay alive. Although only about 30 percent of the greyhounds born in the industry will ever touch a racetrack, greyhounds who do qualify to become racers at 18 months typically live in cages, some as small as three foot by three foot, for roughly 22 hours each day. Some are kept muzzled by their trainers almost constantly. Many exhibit crate and muzzle sores, and are frequently infested with internal and external parasites. Greyhounds are forced to race in extreme weather conditions from sub zero weather to temperatures reaching over 100 degrees. As of 1998, a total of 49 tracks were holding live greyhound racing. These tracks are in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Greyhounds are "retired" when they become unprofitable through injury or failure to win races. Few make it to the mandated retirement age of five years. Injuries and sickness--broken legs, heat stroke, heart attacks--claim many dogs. Some are accidentally electrocuted or otherwise injured by lures during a race. Most dogs who slow down and become unprofitable are either killed immediately or sold to research laboratories. At Colorado State University alone, from January 1995 to March 1998, a total of 2,650 unwanted racing greyhounds were donated to research by local breeders. About five percent of retired greyhounds are placed in adoptive homes. A few of the big winners are kept for breeding. One retired greyhound breeder put it this way: "If (the dogs) run off the track and can't requalify, they're stuck out back and lucky if they're fed."
Because of the all-pervasive economic interests, many greyhound owners and trainers have kept dogs in deplorable conditions and killed them in cheap, cruel ways. In April 1998, the rotting carcasses of 45 dead greyhounds were discovered outside St. Louis. The dogs' ears had been cut off to remove identifying tattoos. In one instance in Arizona, 143 greyhounds were found shot to death and hidden in an orchard. A top racer was charged with criminal littering. In 1990, two Arizona kennelmen who so neglected their dogs that 25 had to be euthanized, were fined just $500 each and had their racing licenses revoked. After that came the discovery of two dogs in a dumpster outside a Phoenix kennel, battered, but still alive. Seventy other dogs in the kennel were underfed and tick-infested. The trainer had his license suspended. There have also been cases of dogs found abandoned in padlocked kennels, starving and suffering from dehydration. Two hundred starving dogs were found in a Florida kennel in 1991. In 1992, 87 dogs perished in a Massachusetts kennel arson fire. In Jacksonville, Florida, 20 greyhounds died when the air-conditioning system in their kennel failed.
Some unwanted dogs are abused for entertainment. Witnesses described the "Tijuana Hot Plate" that took place after a race at the Coeur d'Alene Greyhound Park in which an unwanted female greyhound was taken from her crate and placed in the middle of a crowded room where revelers partook in marijuana and cocaine. She stood on the wetted floor while a man put a metal wire inside her rectum and an alligator clip on her lip. She was then electrocuted. Witnesses said that it was not the first time a race dog had been killed this way.
Other Victims
Each year approximately 100,000 small animals--most of them rabbits--are used as live bait to teach dogs to chase lures around the track. The dogs are encouraged to chase and kill live lures hanging from a horizontal pole so they will chase the inanimate lures used during the actual races. "Bait animals" may be used repeatedly throughout the day, whether alive or dead. Rabbits' legs are sometimes broken so their cries will excite the dogs; guinea pigs are used because they scream. When animals are "used up," dogs are permitted to catch them and tear them apart. Trainers claim the use of live lures is necessary to teach dogs to be champion racers, and the cost of "bait animals" is low compared to the potential earnings of a winning dog. Less aggressive dogs are sometimes placed in a cage with a rabbit or other animal and not released or fed until they have killed the cage companion.
A small percentage of greyhounds are trained using an artificial rabbit lure. However, in Massachusetts and other states where training with live animals is illegal, owners often send their dogs out of state for training, thus circumventing the state's humane intentions. Many dogs are trained in Texas and Kansas, where anti-cruelty codes are weaker or less strictly enforced than in other states.
Help and Hope
Because greyhounds are usually gentle, quiet, and friendly, some of the lucky dogs are placed into caring homes. The Greyhound Protection League (P.O. Box 620863, Woodside, CA 94062; 1-800-4-HOUNDS; www.grehounds.org)
organizes adoption programs throughout the country and distributes information about the racing industry.
Although adoption helps, the only way to protect greyhounds from abuse is to put an end to racing. Due to the grassroots efforts of concerned citizens, live dog racing has been banned in seven states: Maine, Virginia, Vermont, Idaho, Washington, Nevada and North Carolina.
Fortunately, greyhound racing is losing its popularity. Sports Illustrated stated "Pari-mutuel betting as a whole has dropped by $1 billion in the last decade and this sport especially has gone to the dogs."
Ways to keep people from patronizing tracks include leafletting at a local track, lobbying for a ban in your state (whether there are currently dog tracks or not), and writing letters to the editor opposing greyhound racing.
References
Michelmore, Peter, "Hidden Shame of an American Sport," Reader's Digest, Aug. 1992, p. 104.
Ibid.
Bronson, Betty, "Racing Greyhounds Mistreated," St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 9, 1986.
Karasik, Gary, "You Can Bet Their Life on It," Miami Herald Tropic, Oct. 21, 1990, p. 8.
Schultze, Steve, "Animal Cruelty Issues Raised in Fight on Legalizing Racing," The Milwaukee Journal, March 29, 1987, p. 19A.
Karasik, p. 8.
Michelmore, p. 104.
Karasik, p. 13.
Robert A. Erlandson, "Former Racing Greyhounds Rescued Just Under Wire," Baltimore Sun, July 12, 1991, p. 1D.
Michelmore, p. 105.
McClintock, Jack, "Run or Die," Life magazine, June/July 1991, p. 65.
Karasik, p. 8.
Karasik, p. 14.
"Winners--After All!" Miami Herald, June 2, 1991, p. 4B.
Knowles, Joseph, "Saving Grace: The Life of a Retired Athlete," Chicago Sports Profiles, June 1994, p. 64.
Michelmore, p. 103.
Ibid., p. 107.
Knowles, p. 64
Zoos: Pitiful Prisons
Despite their professed concern for animals, zoos remain more "collections" of interesting "items" than actual havens or simulated habitats. Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to keep animals in captivity, bored, cramped, lonely, and far from their natural homes.
Says Virginia McKenna, star of the classic movie Born Free and now an active campaigner in behalf of captive animals: "It is the sadness of zoos which haunts me. The purposeless existence of the animals. For the four hours we spend in a zoo, the animals spend four years, or fourteen, perhaps even longer -- if not in the same zoo then in others -- day and night; summer and winter. . . . This is not conservation and surely it is not education. No, it is 'entertainment.' Not comedy, however, but tragedy."(1)
Life Sentence, No Parole
Zoos range in size and quality from cageless parks to small roadside menageries with concrete slabs and iron bars. The larger the zoo and the greater the number and variety of the animals it contains, the more it costs to provide quality care for the animals. Although more than 112 million people visit zoos in the United States and Canada every year, most zoos operate at a loss and must find ways to cut costs (which sometimes means selling animals) or add gimmicks that will attract visitors. Zoo officials often consider profits ahead of the animals' well-being. A former director of the Atlanta Zoo once remarked that he was "too far removed from the animals; they're the last thing I worry about with all the other problems." (2)
Animals suffer from more than neglect in some zoos. When Dunda, an African elephant, was transferred from the San Diego Zoo to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, she was chained, pulled to the ground, and beaten with ax handles for two days. One witness described the blows as "home run swings." Such abuse may be the norm. "You have to motivate them," says San Francisco zookeeper Paul Hunter of elephants, "and the way you do that is by beating the hell out of them."(3)
Propagation, Not Education
Zoos claim to educate people and preserve species, but they frequently fall short on both counts. Most zoo enclosures are quite small, and labels provide little more information than the species' name, diet, and natural range. The animals' normal behavior is seldom discussed, much less observed, because their natural needs are seldom met. Birds' wings may be clipped so they cannot fly, aquatic animals often have little water, and the many animals who naturally live in large herds or family groups are often kept alone or, at most, in pairs. Natural hunting and mating behaviors are virtually eliminated by regulated feeding and breeding regimens. The animals are closely confined, lack privacy, and have little opportunity for mental stimulation or physical exercise, resulting in abnormal and self-destructive behavior, called zoochosis.
A worldwide study of zoos conducted by the Born Free Foundation revealed that zoochosis is rampant in confined animals around the globe.(4) Another study found that elephants spend 22 percent of their time engaging in abnormal behaviors, such as repeated head bobbing or biting cage bars, and bears spend about 30 percent of their time pacing, a sign of distress.(5)
One sanctuary that is home to rescued zoo animals reports seeing frequent signs of zoochosis in animals brought to the sanctuary from zoos. Of chimpanzees, who bite their own limbs from captivity-induced stress, the manager says: "Their hands were unrecognizable from all the scar tissue."
More than half the world's zoos "are still in bad conditions" and treating chimpanzees poorly, according to renowned chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall.(6)
As for education, zoo visitors usually spend only a few minutes at each display, seeking entertainment rather than enlightenment. A study of the zoo in Buffalo, N.Y., found that most people passed cages quickly, and described animals in such terms as "funny-looking," "dirty," or "lazy."(7)
The purpose of most zoos' research is to find ways to breed and maintain more animals in captivity. If zoos ceased to exist, so would the need for most of their research. Protecting species from extinction sounds like a noble goal, but zoo officials usually favor exotic or popular animals who draw crowds and publicity, and neglect less popular species. Most animals housed in zoos are not endangered, nor are they being prepared for release into natural habitats. It is nearly impossible to release captive-bred animals into the wild. A 1994 report by the World Society for the Protection of Animals showed that only 1,200 zoos out of 10,000 worldwide are registered for captive breeding and wildlife conservation. Only two percent of the world's threatened or endangered species are registered in breeding programs.(8) Those that are endangered may have their plight made worse by zoos' focus on crowd appeal. In his book The Last Panda, George Schaller, the scientific director of the Bronx Zoo, says zoos are actually contributing to the near-extinction of giant pandas by constantly shuttling the animals from one zoo to another for display. In-breeding is also a problem among captive populations.
When Cute Little Babies Grow Up
Zoo babies are great crowd-pleasers, but what happens when babies grow up? Zoos often sell or kill animals who no longer attract visitors. Deer, tigers, lions, and other animals who breed often are sometimes sold to "game" farms where hunters pay for the "privilege" of killing them; some are killed for their meat and/or hides. Other "surplus" animals may be sold to smaller, more poorly run zoos or to laboratories for experiments.
Beyond Zoos
Ultimately, we will only save endangered species if we save their habitats and combat the reasons people kill them. Instead of supporting zoos, we should support groups like the International Primate Protection League, The Born Free Foundation, the African Wildlife Foundation, and other groups that work to preserve habitats, not habits. We should help non-profit sanctuaries, like Primarily Primates and the Performing Animal Welfare Society, that rescue and care for exotic animals, but don't sell or breed them.
Zoos truly interested in raising awareness of wildlife and conservation should follow the example of the Worldlife Center in London. The Center plans to create a high-tech zoo with no animals. Visitors would observe animals in the wild via live satellite links with far off places like the Amazon rain forest, the Great Barrier reef, and Africa.(9)
What You Can Do
Zoos are covered under the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which sets minimal housing and maintenance standards for captive animals. The AWA requires that all animal displays be licensed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which must inspect zoos once a year. However, some zoos that have passed USDA inspections with flying colors have later been found by humane groups to have numerous violations. Educate yourself. Read Beyond the Bars, edited by Virginia McKenna, Will Travers, and Jonathan Wray. It is available from Thorson's Publishing Group in Rochester, Vt.
It is best not to patronize a zoo unless you are actively working to change its conditions. Avoid smaller, roadside zoos at all costs. If no one visits these substandard operations, they will be forced to close down.
Start a "Zoocheck" program to build a strong case for implementing changes: Contact PETA for Zoocheck program materials and information on how to get started with your local zoo.
References
McKenna, Virginia, et al., Beyond the Bars, 1987.
Satchell, Michael, "Can Zoos Be Humane?," Parade, Feb. 19, 1984, p. 12.
Fritsch, Jane, "Elephants in Captivity: A Dark Side," Los Angeles Times, Oct. 5, 1988.
Epstein, Randi Hutter, "Zoos Drive Animals Nuts, Study Says," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 9, 1993.
Epstein, Randi Hutter, "Circus Life Drives Animals Insane, Two British Rights Groups Contend," Rocky Mountain News, Aug. 24, 1993.
"World's Zoos Treat Chimpanzees Poorly, British Expert Says," Mesa Tribune, May 17, 1993.
Jamieson, Dale, "Against Zoos," In Defense of Animals, ed. Peter Singer, 1985, p. 111.
Scroon, Nicholas, "Animal Groups Say Zoos Fool the Public," The Independent, July 6, 1994.
Smith, Lorrayne, "Future Zoo: No Bars, No Cages, No Animals," Washington Times, Aug. 4, 1992.
Circuses: Three Rings of Abuse
Although some children dream of running away to join the circus, it is likely that most animals forced to perform in circuses dream of running away from them. Colorful pageantry disguises the fact that animals used in circuses are mere captives forced to perform unnatural and often painful acts. Circuses would quickly lose their appeal if the details of the animals' treatment, confinement, training, and "retirement" became widely known.
No Funds, No Fun
Many circus operations don't have much money, and, as a result, the animals they use often suffer from inadequate care. The animals, most of whom are quite large and naturally active, are forced to spend most of their lives in the small cages used to transport them, and they are allowed out of their cages only for the short periods when they must perform. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) merely requires that the animals have enough room to stand up and turn around when confined, yet even these minimal regulations are routinely ignored. In just a two-year period, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was cited for 65 violations of the AWA.(1)
An animal advocate who worked undercover in a traveling circus was surprised that the circus was often unable to provide adequate water for the animals. Such entourages may visit 150 towns a year, and a clean water supply is not readily available in every location.(2) As a result, drinking water is limited, and cleaning the animals and their cages may take low priority, causing a real hardship for animals like elephants, who normally bathe frequently. Food is often equally limited.
Climatically, the circus environment is quite different from the animals' natural habitats. The hot summer months can be especially hard on animals like bears, while others, like lions, suffer most from the cold. George Lewis, in Elephant Tramp, tells of traveling with Ringling Bros. in the winter: "When we went to unload the elephants, we found the long trip had been too much for one of the oldest, Queen. She was lying dead inside a car." Veterinarians qualified to treat exotic animals aren't always present or available, and animals have suffered and died due to a lack of proper medical attention.
During the winter off-season, animals used in circuses may be kept in traveling crates or in barn stalls; some are even kept in trucks. Few circuses have the funds or the desire to put much money into comfortable winter shelters, since off-season housing is used for only a few months per year.(3) Such unrelieved physical confinement has very harmful physical and psychological effects on animals: A study conducted by the Born Free Foundation found that confined elephants spend 22% of their time in abnormal actions, such as repeated head-bobbing or swaying, and confined bears spend about 30% of their time pacing.(4)
Unnatural Acts
Physical punishment has long been the standard training method for animals in circuses. Some species are less able to adapt to training techniques than others, and as a result suffer great stress during training sessions. Some animals are drugged to make them "manageable," and some have their teeth removed. The AWA puts no restrictions on what training methods may be used, and, according to former animal trainer Pat Derby, "After 25 years of observing and documenting circuses, I know there are no kind animal trainers."(5) Circus patrons are often shocked to discover that even renowned trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams has been videotaped whipping animals.(6)
One former Ringling Bros. employee told the Elephant Alliance how the circus treated one animal: "She was a sweet little innocent brown bear who never hurt anyone . . . but sometimes she had trouble balancing on the high wire. She was then beaten with long metal rods until she was screaming and bloody. She became so neurotic that she would beat her head against her small cage. She finally died."(7)
A Hudson News reporter who traveled with Ringling Bros. reported, in an article dated Aug. 8, 1986, about one chimpanzee's "training": "Repeatedly, he was struck with a study club. The thumps could be heard outside the arena building, and the screams further than that."
The tricks that animals are forced to perform--bears balancing on balls, apes riding motorcycles, elephants standing on two legs--are physically uncomfortable and behaviorally unnatural. The whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks, and other tools used during circus acts are reminders that the animals are being forced to perform. These superficial "performances" teach audiences nothing about how animals behave under natural circumstances. Animals in circuses are often portrayed as either ferocious or stupid compared to their "brave" or "commanding" human counterparts; their true nature is never seen.
Fighting Back
Given half a chance, these intelligent captives make their own feelings abundantly clear. In 1994, Tyke, an African elephant, ran amok in Hawaii, killing her trainer and injuring 13 others before police shot her to death.(8) Five days earlier, Elaine (another elephant with the same circus) pinned eight children and their parents under a fence that separated the first row of spectators from the circus rings. In April of 1994, Sue, an Asian elephant with the Jordan Circus, picked up her trainer, Rex Williams, tossed him, and then stepped on him, while she was giving rides to two children. In May of 1993, while on the Ringling Bros.' elephant farm in Gainesville, Fla., a circus trainer died of internal injuries after an elephant knocked him down and stepped on his chest. In fact, since 1990, at least 11 people have been killed and numerous others injured by captive-elephant attacks. As the injuries to both humans and elephants mount, the public has come to recognize that exotic animals do not belong in circuses and cages, but rather in their homelands with their families. As Officer Blaine Doyle, who had to shoot 47 rounds into Janet, an elephant who ran amok with three children on her back, noted: "I think these elephants are trying to tell us that zoos and circuses are not what God created them for . . . but we have not been listening."(9)
Lifetimes of Loneliness
After the animals have outlived their performing "usefulness," they are either permanently relegated to winter quarters (often cages) or are sold to other circuses, zoos, private menageries, game farms (to be shot for "recreation" or for "exotic" meat), or even research laboratories. They often end their lives no more peacefully or comfortably than they lived them: in confinement, coercion, and misery.
A Dying Industry
As more people become aware of the cruelty involved in forcing animals to perform, circuses that use animals are finding fewer places to set up their big tops. The use of animals in entertainment already has been restricted or banned in several countries, including Sweden, India, Finland, Switzerland, and Denmark. In England, circuses with animal acts are often denied public space. Coquitlam and Langley in British Columbia passed bans after a flaming hoop fell on a tiger during a circus performance. In the United States, several local governments have banned exotic animal acts.
What You Can Do
Eliminating animal exploitation simply means the increased use of human performers. Write to PETA for information on ways to get an animal display ban passed in your area.
Don't patronize circuses that use animals. PETA can provide "Circus Check" fliers to pass out to patrons if the circus comes to your town. Find out about state and local animal protection laws, and report any possible violations to authorities.
Take your family to see only animal-free circuses, such as the Cirque du Soleil or the Pickle Family Circus.
References
Lambert, FLorence, "No Place for Elephants," The Washington Post, April 1, 1995.
Roush, Jeanne, "Animals Under the Big Top," The Humane Society News, Humane Society of the United States, Spring 1981.
Rappaport, Sandra, "The Arena of Exploitation," Animals Magazine, Massachusetts SPCA.
Epstein, Randi Hutter, "Circus Life Drives Animals Insane, Two British Rights Groups Contend," Rocky Mountain News, Aug. 24, 1993.
Reitman, Judith, "The Greatest Shame on Earth?" Fairfield County Advocate, Sept. 11, 1989.
Performing Animal Welfare Society video, Sept. 10, 1987.
Interview by Elephant Alliance, 1993.
Nakaso, Dan, "1 Killed, 13 Injured; Panic at Blaisdell," The Honolulu Advertiser, Aug. 21, 1994.
Sahagun, Louis, "Elephants Pose Giant Dangers," Los Angeles Times, Oct. 11, 1994.
Horse Racing: A Losing Bet
Drug abuse, injuries to horses, race fixing, organized crime, and declining public interest have all become integral to the horse racing industry. The industry's whips and blinders are visible reminders that horse racing is merely another form of animal exploitation. As trainer Ron McAnally said after champion Go For Wand shattered her leg in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Distaff race: “It's part of racing. They give their lives for our pleasure.”(1)
Drugs and Deception
Racehorses have a drug problem; many have been turned into junkies by their trainers and even by veterinarians, who frequently provide drugs to keep horses on the track even when they shouldn't be racing. Commonly used drugs such as Lasix (furosemide) and Bute (phenylbutazone) relieve symptoms like pain and bleeding but don't treat the underlying disorders. Horses are forced to race with hairline fractures that would, without drugs, be too painful to run on. As a result, injuries and chronic lameness are common.
For example, according to a 1993 University of Minnesota study, 840 horses were fatally injured on U.S. tracks in 1992, and 3,566 horses—or one horse in every 22 races—were so severely injured that they could not finish the race—figures Sports Illustrated magazine called “appalling and unacceptable by any humane standard.” Countless more horses suffer injuries that are not revealed until later.(2)
Veterinarian Gregory L. Ferraro, who gave up a lucrative 21-year career working at Southern California tracks after becoming disillusioned with the “rampant” use of drugs in racehorses, says, “In general, treatments designed to repair a horse's injuries and to alleviate its suffering are now often used to get the animal out onto the track to compete—to force the animal, like some punch-drunk fighter, to make just one more round. Equine veterinary medicine has been misdirected from the art of healing to the craft of portfolio management.”(3)
Legal drugs like Lasix are also used to disguise the presence of illegal substances by weakening their concentrations.
Racing Regulations
According to Bob Baker, a one-time racehorse owner and trainer who left the industry to become an investigator for the Humane Society of the United States, horse racing is, “for all practical purposes, exempt from all anticruelty laws.”(4) Horse racing is a partnership between the racing industry and individual states, which generate revenue from tracks, a classic case of the “fox guarding the henhouse.” Says Baker, “The same entity that's supposed to be regulating the racing industry is also getting a percentage of every dollar wagered.” Baker says this partnership also makes it hard to bring individual cruelty cases to trial because state prosecutors are often reluctant to pursue cases involving the racing commission, a state agency.(5)
When Horses Don't Win
Centuries of selective breeding have made thoroughbreds increasingly fragile. “They go 45 miles per hour, weigh 1,000 pounds and have ankles as big as yours and mine,” says trainer Nick Zito. Agrees New York Daily News racing columnist Bill Finley, “The thoroughbred racehorse is a genetic mistake. It runs too fast, its frame is too large, and its legs are far too small. As long as mankind demands that it run at high speeds under stressful conditions, horses will die at racetracks.”(6)
Thoroughbreds' genetic troubles are exacerbated by harder track surfaces, year-round racing schedules, and corporate owners who view horses as “investments” and race them too frequently in an effort to make more money. Says Ellen Parker, publisher of a newsletter about pedigree research, “Greed is a thoroughbred's biggest enemy. People get to thinking of horses as machines. You have to think in terms of the animal first.”(7)
Unfortunately, the industry continues to put profits first. Horses are often run at 2 years of age, before their bones have fully matured, and are often injured as a result. The American Association of Equine Practitioners says 60 to 90 percent of racehorses are “significantly lame.”(8)
Horses who fail to bring in winnings are rarely rewarded with an easy retirement; more likely, they will suffer an unceremonious early death, and their flesh will be sold overseas for human consumption or rendered into dog food or glue. Slaughterhouse “kill buyers” usually have standing agreements with race tracks to purchase horses whose owners have decided that they are not performing adequately.(9)
Former racers' journeys from the winner's circle to the killing floor are hardly a bed of roses. Horses may endure up to 36-hour-long trips in double-decker cattle trucks (which are too low for them to stand in without hanging their heads or falling to their knees) with no stops for food, water, or rest. Even horses who are injured on the track face these arduous trips. According to Bob Baker, horse owners and trainers “drug these horses up with Bute, steroids, all this stuff to get them to race when they shouldn't be, but when the horse breaks down, they don't euthanize him because with the price of horsemeat they can get more money if they get him to the slaughterhouse live [a requirement for horsemeat meant for human consumption]. So they'll stick that horse on the trailer with a broken leg, without any painkillers because they're too cheap to give the horse medication.”(10)
Horse handler Tommy Burns, who was convicted of killing and injuring horses so their owners could collect insurance money, adds that even millionaires “throw the horses away like broken toys.”(11)
Very few horses earn high stakes, become famous, and appear to lead glamorous lives. The vast majority lead stressful lives, which all too often involve crippling injuries and premature deaths. Regardless of their success, racehorses commonly end up at the slaughterhouse once their owners can no longer profit from them.
Horse racing is no longer legal in Belgium because of its inherent cruelty. By refusing to patronize existing tracks, by working to reform and enforce racing regulations, by lobbying against the construction of new tracks, and by educating the public about the perilous path racehorses face, concerned citizens can help phase out this cruel and exploitative “sport.”
References
(1) Bill Finley, “Sadly, No Way to Stop Deaths,” New York Daily News, 10 Jun. 1993.
(2) William Nack and Lester Munson, “The Breaking Point,” Sports Illustrated, 1 Nov. 1993, p. 76.
(3) Nack.
(4) Linda Sanders, “Blood on the Tracks,” The Voice, 11 Jun. 1991.
(5) Sanders.
(6) Finley.
(7) Chuck Dybdal, “The Triple Crown Is as Much a Test of Survival As It Is Speed and Stamina,” Contra Costa Times, 26 Apr. 1998, p. B1.
(8) Wayne Pacelle, “Horse Racing: What's Around the Bend?” The Animals' Agenda, Jun. 1988, p. 14.
(9) The Humane Society of the United States, “Horse Slaughter Fact Sheet,” 1994.
(10) Sanders.
(11) Baltimore City Paper, Jun./Jul. 1995, p. 21.
Bullfighting: A Tradition of Tragedy
Every year, approximately 35,000 bulls are tormented and killed in bullfights in Spain alone.(1) Although many bullfight attendees are American tourists, 90 percent of these tourists never return to another fight after witnessing the relentless cruelty that takes place in the ring.(2) Spanish bulls and their many counterparts in Mexico and other countries are victims of a savage display disguised as "art" or "entertainment" that noted Mexican author Eduardo del Rio described as "a stumbling block for the humanization of man."(3)
Murderous Mystique
Spanish and Mexican bullfight advertisers lure American tourists with mystique. They claim the fight is festive, artistic, and a fair competition between skill and force. What they do not reveal is that the bull never has a chance to defend himself, much less survive.
Many prominent former bullfighters report that the bull is intentionally debilitated with tranquilizers and laxatives, beatings to the kidneys, petroleum jelly rubbed into their eyes to blur vision, heavy weights hung around their neck for weeks before the fight, and confinement in darkness for hours before being released into the bright arena.(4)
A well-known bullfight veterinarian, Dr. Manuel Sanz, reports that in 1987 more than 90 percent of bulls killed in fights had their horns "shaved" before the fight. Horn shaving involves sawing off several inches of the horns so the bull misses his thrusts at the altered angle.(5)
The matador, two picadors on horses, and three men on foot stab the bull repeatedly when he enters the ring. After the bull has been completely weakened by fear, blood loss, and exhaustion, the matador attempts to make a clean kill with a sword to the heart. Unfortunately for the suffering bull, the matador rarely succeeds and must make several thrusts, often missing the bull's heart and piercing his lungs instead. Often a dagger must be used to cut the spinal cord and spare the audience the sight of a defenseless animal in the throes of death. The bull may still be fully conscious but paralyzed when his ears and tail are cut off as the final show of "victory."(6)
Mexican bullfighting has an added feature: novillada, or baby bullfights. There is no ritual in this slaughter of calves. Baby bulls, some no more than a few weeks old, are brought into a small arena where they are stabbed to death by spectators, many of whom are children.(7) These bloodbaths end with spectators hacking off the ears and tail of the often fully conscious calf lying in his own blood.
The so-called "bloodless bullfights" that are legal in many U.S. states are only slightly less barbaric than their bloody counterparts. Although the bulls in these "fights" are not killed in the ring, they are often slaughtered immediately afterward. During the fights they are tormented, teased, and terrified.(8)
Other Victims
The bulls aren't the only victims of the intense cruelty of the arena. According to Lyn Sherwood, publisher of an English-language bullfight magazine, horses used in bullfights are "shot behind the ear with dope. The horses are drugged and blindfolded and they're knocked down a lot."(9) These horses, who are often gored, usually have wet newspaper stuffed in their ears to impair their hearing, and their vocal cords are usually cut so their cries do not distract the crowd. Fight promoters claim the horses are "saved" from glue factories; this means these animals are often old, tired plow horses who end up being knocked down by bulls weighing up to a half a ton.(10)
American author Ernest Hemingway, a bullfighting aficionado, wrote in his book Death in the Afternoon, "In the tragedy of the bullfight, the horse is the comic character ... I have seen it, people running, horse emptying, one dignity after another being destroyed in the spattering and trailing of its innermost values [viscera], in a complete burlesque of tragedy. I have seen these, call them disembowellings, that is the worst word. When due to their timing, they were very funny. This is the sort of thing you should not admit, but it is because such things have not been admitted that the bullfight has never been explained."(11)
Bull Breeding
Bulls today are specially bred for bullfighting. They are raised on 280 registered bull ranches located in various parts of Mexico. Selective breeding has enabled ranchers to create a bull who will die in a manner most satisfying to the public.(12) Because the sight of a wounded bull desperately trying to retreat from the ring would ruin the image of the "sport," bulls are bred to return to the torture repeatedly and appear to be a wild and vicious challenge to the matador.(13)
Growing Opposition
While its exact origins are not known, bullfighting is believed to have emerged in connection with ancient fertility rites.
In 1567, Pope Pius V decreed that "exhibitions of tortured beasts or bulls is contrary to Christian duty and piety." He called for "an end to such bloody amusements, abject and more appropriate for devils than for men." The penalty for violating this decree, which has never been repealed, is excommunication.(14)
In 1725, bullfighting began to assume its present state when Francisco Romero invented a stick with a red cloth suspended from the end, which he used to tease and torment the bulls. Today's bullfighting maneuvers became defined in the 1700s and have changed little since.(15)
Recent polls of Spanish citizens show they are not particularly interested in attending bullfights. Even bullfight promoter Sherwood admits "there's no way to morally justify bullfighting."(16) But tourists' money keeps bullfight profiteers in business.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals has issued reports and made repeated verbal recommendations to national leaders in Mexico and Spain criticizing bullfighting. Colin Platt, coordinator of the WSPA's Scientific Advisory Panel, commented in a memo attached to one report that "...in over 15 years of compiling scientific reports, this one was the most distasteful subject to research--a sentiment shared by several of my colleagues on the Panel."(17)
Many anti-bullfighting groups have sprung up worldwide, including the Spanish Alternativa Para La Liberacion Animal, the Mexican Pena Antitaurina Mexicana, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Tijuana and Mexico City, and the Anti-Bullfighting Committee in New York. (18)
Spain's Green Party has been working with the country's Association for the Defense of Animal Rights (ADDA) to have bullfighting banned. In 1993, a petition drive by the coalition raised over one million signatures.(19)
What You Can Do
If you are planning to visit a country that permits or encourages bullfighting, please tell your travel agent you are opposed to animal cruelty in any form. Many tourist resorts are building bullfight arenas as part of their "recreation" facilities; refuse to stay at such a resort, and write a letter to the owner explaining why you will not stay there. Instead, visit the resort town of Tossa de Mar, which was the first town in Spain to ban bullfights and related advertising.(20)
Tell others the facts about bullfighting and urge them to protest as well. When tourists stop attending bullfights, profiteers will stop the cruelty.
Bloody or bloodless, bullfighting is a senseless, degrading spectacle that has no place in a civilized society.
References
Nilsson, P.Q., "Think Spain . . . Think Again," 1994.
Delaney, Paul, "El Toro's Fight Goes On, but the 'Olés' Are Fewer," New York Times, August 6, 1988.
McFarland, Cole, "Death in the Afternoon," The Animals' Voice, Volume 1, Number 1, 1988.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
"Savage Spectacles," The Animals' Agenda, July/August 1988.
The Animals' Voice, op. cit.
Ibid.
Hemingway, Ernest, Death in the Afternoon, N.Y.: Scribner, 1932.
The Animals Voice, op. cit.
Ibid.
Pope Pius V, Bullarum Romanorum Pontificum, Vol. 4, 2nd Part, 402-3, 1567.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
The Animals' Agenda, op. cit.
Davison, P., "Matadors on Horns of a Dilemma," Independent (U.K.), Feb. 12, 1994.
Greanville, David P., "Catalonian Town Enacts First Bullfight Ban," The Animals' Agenda, May 1990.
Traveling Animal Acts: Shameful Shows
Animals used in traveling shows and menageries are often subjected to severe abuse in order to provide "entertainment" at county fairs, shopping malls, and theme parks. Among the attractions are wrestling bears, diving mules, donkey basketball games, and piano-playing rabbits. Customers can have their photographs taken with lion cubs and muzzled bears. The variations are limited only by the imaginations of exhibitors out for an easy dollar. "Surplus" animals are readily available from breeders and zoos.
A Klass Act?
Even under the best of circumstances, traveling can be stressful for animals, but for the thousands of "exotic" animals dragged around the country in two-bit traveling shows, it is hellish. PETA sent an undercover investigator along with one show to find out what goes on behind the scenes. The traveling show "Klass Act" kept a sensitive baboon named Ruth in a travel kennel measuring 22 inches by 13 inches by 17 inches, in which she could not stand up, for days at a time. At every mall, people teased Ruth, and she reportedly chewed off her own index finger from stress.
While our undercover investigator was with Klass Act, they picked up three newborn lion cubs who had been stolen from their mother and immediatley thrust into the laps of children whose parents paid $15 for a quick photo session. The cats were kept in filthy cages. Before each "show," the cages were taken out of the truck and hosed down, cats and all. Later in the day, the local fire department usually hosed them down a second time, often directing a powerful blast of water directly at the most sensitive lion to provoke her into lunging for the bars. The cubs traveled in non-airconditioned vans where our investigator registered a temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit and noted that the cubs never stopped panting.
When Klass Act's owner picked up two one-week-old endangered Siberian tiger cubs at the Denver airport, one was motionless and the other just kept crying. Both cubs were put on display the next day, but when mall employees and patrons asked about their condition the immobile one was moved to a back room. The cub died the next night, and an employee buried him on the grounds of a local motel. When people asked, they were told the cub was "fine" and "resting in the back."
Decades of Cruelty
Another example of a two-bit traveling show is Tim Rivers' diving mules. Since 1957, Rivers has traveled the United States with his high-diving mule act. The act includes three mules, a pony, a dog, and a capuchin monkey. The mules climb a 30-foot ramp, then dive into a pool containing six feet of water, sometimes with other animals chained to their backs. Experts believe that electric shock is used to train the animals.
Rivers' other act is called the "Banana Derby." In it, monkeys are dressed in nylon suits and chained to the backs of miniature horses who race around a small track, often in the blazing summer sun.
The cruelty inherent in these acts does not go unnoticed, and Rivers has a long history of run-ins with humane officials. In August 1983, Rivers' act was stopped in Brockton, Mass., when MSPCA officials threatened to arrest him if the animals were injured in any way after the dive. In May 1988, the Mississippi Animal Rescue League (MARL) filed cruelty charges against Rivers after he refused to call off his act. According to MARL, Rivers departed Jackson after the first "dive," leaving an outstanding warrant and the complaint. In June 1988, the act was stopped by Seminole County, Fla., Humane Society officials and deputy sheriffs. Dr. Robert Sindler, DVM, determined that the animals would be "overdriven and tormented" during the process, a violation of Florida law. In Jackson, Miss., Rivers allegedly violated a federal regulation governing cage sizes. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) personnel who inspected Rivers' menagerie discovered he was keeping monkeys in a cage that was painfully small.
Training, Transport, Torture
Forcing animals to perform acts that are unnatural to them requires rigorous training methods that can include electric prods and food deprivation. Animals are sometimes drugged or their teeth and claws are surgically removed or impaired.
Confined to tiny transport cages, animals endure constant stress. They often suffer from temperature extremes and irregular feeding and watering.
When "Wonder Zoo" came to Fairfax, Va., humane officials seized a baby African elephant, eight Shetland ponies, 17 goats and sheep, a zebra, a llama, two ostriches, a miniature Burmese python -- all of whom were stuffed into a single trailer in the 99-degree summer heat. While the suffering caused by unalleviated heat formed the basis for the legal seizure, on closer inspection the animals were found to be suffering from lack of adequate food, water, and space. Nora, the baby elephant, was 300 pounds underweight, her backbone protruding under her skin.
Without exercise, animals become listless and prone to illness; many resort to self-mutilation in reaction to stress or boredom. Incidences of animals attacking spectators, especially children, are frequent.
Licensed But Not Regulated
The Animal Welfare Act requires that animal exhibitors be licensed with the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). This is supposed to ensure that the animals' care meets the Act's minimum requirements. In reality, the USDA has no way of regulating or enforcing the humane treatment of animals who are transported continuously.
The Show Must Not Go On
When an animal show comes to town, or tries to, you can take the following steps:
If you have advance notice of the show, quickly voice your concerns to the fair manager, shopping mall manager, or other promoters. Tell them the facts about behind-the-scenes abuse, and stress the risk of injury to spectators. Have your friends and neighbors do the same, and make it clear that the fair, mall, etc., will be boycotted if the show is booked. If the promoters ignore you, try taking your concerns to the mayor or city or county council. Ask your local humane society to use its influence to ban the show.
If the show is booked in spite of your efforts, be on the scene as soon as the animals arrive to look for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Watch the animals for signs of poor health, such as listlessness, sores, missing hair, lameness, or self-mutilation. Note sanitation, food and water availability, and cage size (cages must be large enough for the animals to make normal movements). Take photographs or video footage of the animals and their cages. If you see possible violations, try to get a sympathetic veterinarian to verify your findings; then contact your local animal warden or humane officer, the state department of agriculture, and the state branch office of USDA/APHIS (usually located in the state capital). Insist that the animals be examined and the conditions be relieved.
Organize a demonstration in advance. Notify the media in time for them to cover your protest. If you don't already know which reporters are sympathetic to animal issues, call local papers and TV stations and ask to speak to a reporter who is interested in animal issues. Five people distributing fliers will go a long way toward educating the public--media coverage of 20 people with picket signs is a huge success! (Write to PETA for a supply of fliers.)
Learn where the show is going next. Contact humane societies and activists in that area, let them know what you did in your town, and ask them to do the same.
You can obtain a list of animal rights groups in a specific state by calling PETA's International Grassroots Campaigns Department.
Have everyone you know write to the Secretary of Agriculture, 14th St. and Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20250. Ask that traveling animal shows be banned due to the cruelty involved and the inability of APHIS to enforce the Animal Welfare Act.
Ax the Acts
Don't allow the promoters of animal acts to pass off their profit-making exploitation as entertainment. By educating others and showing that animal cruelty is neither fun nor ethical, you can help stop animal exploitation.
Call PETA and request an Animal Display Ban pack for tips on getting animal acts banned in your community.
Marine Mammal Parks: Chlorinated Prisons
Each year, orcas leap through the air for a handful of fish, and dolphins are ridden by human performers as if they were water skis. Employees at marine parks like to tell audiences that the animals wouldn't perform if they weren't happy. You can even see how content the dolphins are--just look at the permanent smiles on their faces, right? But what most visitors to marine parks don't realize is that hidden behind the dolphin's "smile" is an industry built on suffering.
Families Torn Apart
Killer whales, or orcas, are members of the dolphin family. They are also the largest animals held in captivity. In the wild, orcas stay with their mothers for life. Family groups, or "pods," consist of a mother, her adult sons and daughters, and the offspring of her daughters. Each member of the pod communicates in a "dialect" specific to that pod.(1) Dolphins swim together in family pods of three to 10 individuals or tribes of hundreds. Imagine, then, the trauma inflicted on these social animals when they are ripped from their families and put in the strange, artificial world of a marine park.
Capturing even one wild orca or dolphin disrupts the entire pod. To obtain a female dolphin of breeding age, for example, boats are used to chase the pod to shallow waters. The dolphins are surrounded with nets that are gradually closed and lifted into the boats. Unwanted dolphins are thrown back. Some die from the shock of their experience. Others slowly succumb to pneumonia caused by water entering their lungs through their blowholes. Pregnant females may spontaneously abort babies.(2)
Orcas and dolphins who survive this ordeal become frantic upon seeing their captured companions and may even try to save them. When Namu, a wild orca captured off the coast of Canada, was towed to the Seattle Public Aquarium in a steel cage, a group of wild orcas followed for miles.(3)
Adapting to an Alien World
In the wild, orcas and dolphins may swim up to 100 miles a day. But captured dolphins are confined to tanks as small as 24 feet by 24 feet wide and 6 feet deep.(4) Wild orcas and dolphins can stay underwater for up to 30 minutes at a time, and they typically spend only 10 to 20 percent of their time at the water's surface. But because the tanks in marine parks are so shallow, captive orcas and dolphins spend more than half of their time at the surface. Experts believe this may account for the collapsed dorsal fins seen on the majority of captive orcas.(5)
Dolphins navigate by echolocation. They bounce sonar waves off other objects to determine shape, density, distance, and location. In tanks, the reverberations from their own sonar bouncing off walls drives some dolphins insane.(6) Jean-Michel Cousteau believes that for captive dolphins, "their world becomes a maze of meaningless reverberations."(7)
Tanks are kept clean with chlorine, copper sulfate, and other harsh chemicals that irritate dolphins' eyes, causing many to swim with their eyes closed. Former dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, who trained dolphins for the television show "Flipper," believes excessive chlorine has caused some dolphins to go blind.(8) The United States Department of Agriculture closed Florida's Ocean World after determining that over-chlorinated water was causing dolphins' skin to peel off.(9)
Newly captured dolphins and orcas are also forced to learn tricks. Former trainers say that withholding food and isolating animals who refuse to perform are two common training methods. According to Ric O'Barry, "positive reward" training is a euphemism for food deprivation.(10) Marine parks may withhold up to 60 percent of food before shows so that the animals will be "sharp" for performances.(11) Former dolphin trainer Doug Cartlidge maintains that highly social dolphins are punished by being isolated from other animals: "You put them in a pen and ignore them. It's like psychological torture."(12) It's little wonder, then, that captive orcas and dolphins are, as O'Barry says, "so stressed-out you wouldn't believe it."(13) The stress is so great that some commit suicide. Jacques Cousteau and his son, Jean-Michel, vowed never to capture marine mammals again after witnessing one captured dolphin kill himself by deliberately crashing into the side of his tank again and again.(14)
Captivity's Tragic Consequences
If life for captive orcas and dolphins is as tranquil as marine parks would have us believe, the animals should live longer than their wild counterparts. After all, captive marine mammals are not subject to predators and ocean pollution. But captivity is a death sentence for orcas and dolphins.
In the wild, dolphins can live to be 25 to 50 years old.(15,16) Male orcas live between 50 and 60 years, females between 80 and 90 years.(17) But orcas at Sea World and other marine parks rarely survive more than 10 years in captivity.(18) More than half of all dolphins die within the first two years of captivity; the remaining dolphins live an average of only six years.(19) One Canadian research team found that captivity shortens an orca's life by as much as 43 years, and a dolphin's life by up to 15 years.(20)
Sea World, which owns most of the captive orcas and dolphins in the United States, has one of the worst histories of caring for its animals. After Sea World purchased and closed Marineland, a Southern California competitor, it shipped the Marineland animals to various Sea World facilities. Within a year, 12 of them--5 dolphins, 5 sea lions, and 2 seals--were dead. The following year, Orky, a Marineland orca said to be the "world's most famous killer whale," also died. Because of such high mortality rates and because captive breeding programs have been highly unsuccessful, marine parks continue to capture orcas and dolphins from the wild.
Captive animals are not the only victims of these "circuses of the sea." Sea World patrons were stunned when two orcas repeatedly dragged trainer Jonathan Smith to the bottom of their tank, in an apparent attempt to drown him.(21) Trainer Keltie Lee Byrne was killed by three Sea Land orcas after she fell into the water with them.(22)
Mis-Education
Marine parks have shown no more interest in conserving marine mammals' natural habitats than they have in educating audiences. In fact, the industry has actively lobbied to keep small cetaceans, such as orcas and dolphins, outside the jurisdiction of the International Whaling Commission (even though this would help protect these animals in the wild) because they don't want to risk not being able to capture additional animals in the future.(23)
Turning the Tide
Increasingly, people around the world are recognizing that dolphins, orcas, and other cetaceans do not belong in captivity. Canada no longer allows beluga whales to be captured and exported. In Brazil, it is illegal to use marine mammals for entertainment. In England, consumer boycotts have forced all the marine parks to close. Israel has prohibited the importation of dolphins for use in marine parks, South Carolina has banned all exhibits of whales and dolphins, and other states are currently working on legislation to prohibit the capture or restrict the display of marine mammals.
Richard Donner, coproducer of the film "Free Willy," has joined a growing number of people in calling for an end to the marine mammal trade. Says Donner, "Removal of these majestic mammals from the wild for commercial purposes is obscene....These horrendous captures absolutely must become a thing of the past."(24)
References
The Fund for Animals, "Cetaceans in Captivity. Orcas: An Overview." Marine Mammal Fact Sheet #2.
Dolphin Project-Europe Newsletter, Winter 1994/95.
Hanauer, Gary, "The Killing Tanks," Penthouse, October 1989.
Dolphin Project Europe.
The Humane Society of the United States, "Help Keep Whales and Dolphins Free!"
Dolphin Project-Europe.
Cousteau, Jean-Michel, "Save the Dolphin: Let It Go Free!," Baltimore Sun, May 11, 1993.
Dolphin Project-Europe.
The Associated Press wire service, July 3, 1994.
McKenna, Virginia, Into the Blue, 1992.
Hanauer.
McKenna.
Hanauer.
Dumanoski, Dianne, "The Age of Aquariums," Asbury Park Press, November 12, 1990.
McKenna.
Dolphin Project-Europe.
The Fund for Animals.
Hanauer.
Dolphin Project-Europe.
Worden, Amy, United Press International wire service, May 19, 1994.
Hanauer.
"Whales Kill Trainer in Sea Show," New York Post, February 22, 1991.
Rose, Naomi A., Letter to Richard Busch, editor of National Geographic Traveler, February 3, 1995.
"Sea World Tossed Out as Sponsor for American Oceans Event," Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions news release, March 20, 1995.
Carriage Horses: Don't Get Taken For A Ride
What could be more romantic than a leisurely carriage ride on a warm summer evening? In the late 1980s, Whitey, a nine-year-old gelding, collapsed while pulling a carriage during a summer heat wave in New York City. A passing nurse gave Whitey an IV saline solution, and sympathetic police officers sprayed him with cool water for two hours. Eventually Whitey managed to get back on his feet. Another carriage horse, Misty, died from apparent heat exhaustion during the same heat wave.
Despite the national attention that was focused on the carriage horse industry after Whitey's collapse--and the outrage of romantics everywhere--little has changed for the horses.
A Hard Haul for Horses
Many horses who end up pulling carriages through city streets are "breakdowns" from harness racing tracks. Standardbreds are often trained to race by being tethered to the back of a truck that drives increasingly faster, so carriage horse operators consider these horses "street savvy."(1) But standardbreds are much smaller and lighter than traditional "draft horses" and are not accustomed to pulling heavy loads. Many other carriage horses are breakdowns from Amish farming communities. Regardless of their source, most horses, as veterinarian Holly Cheever points out, "enter the carriage horse trade with a legacy of previous injuries and debility."(2) When horses can no longer pull heavy carriages, they are sold to rendering plants or dog food companies.
Even for healthy horses, a carriage ride is not an easy trip. Most cities have only minimal regulations governing working conditions for carriage horses, and these regulations are rarely enforced. Carriage horse operators know all the loopholes in their city's laws. An officer with the Canadian SPCA has said, "[I]f regulations state that a horse can work for nine consecutive hours, but [fail] to say within a 24-hour period, [drivers will] work the horse for nine hours, give the horse an hour or two of rest, then come back on the road."(3) As a result, many horses work 12 or more hours a day, often in extreme weather conditions.
As in the case of Misty, weather conditions sometimes prove fatal for working horses. Carriage horses are exposed to bitter cold and scorching heat. Carriage Operators of North America, a trade organization to which only a small percentage of carriage horse operators belong, says horses may work if the temperature is nine degrees Fahrenheit, well below freezing.(4) In summer months, horses suffering from dehydration or heat stress can die in just a few hours. Some cities outlaw carriage rides when the temperature reaches a certain degree, but often the official weather bureau reading does not accurately reflect the temperature on the streets. A study published by Cornell University, for example, found that the air temperature recorded by the weather bureau can be nearly 50 degrees cooler than the actual asphalt temperature.(5) And the New York City Department of Transportation found that asphalt surfaces can reach 200 degrees Fahrenheit.(6)
Accidents Waiting to Happen
Horses and heavy city traffic can also be a deadly mix. Despite carriage horse operators' claims, most horses are not comfortable working among cars and trucks, and many accidents, injuries, and even deaths--to horses and humans--have been caused by horses becoming "spooked" in traffic. According to Cheever, it is normal for horses to "react to threatening situations with panic and flight."(7) A survey of national carriage horse accidents revealed that 85 percent of all accidents were the result of an animal spooking. Seventy percent of the time there was a human injury, and 22 percent of the time there was a human death.(8) The survey also found that in New York City, which has the highest carriage horse accident rate in the country, 98 percent of the horses who "spooked" became injured.(9,10) Injuries and fatalities resulting from collisions between cars and carriage horses have occurred in almost every city that allows carriage rides, including Cincinnati, Ohio; Salt Lake City, Utah; Charleston, South Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Baltimore, Maryland; and Houston, Texas.
Driving Horses to Ill Health
The smoke and exhaust fumes from urban traffic are also dangerous for horses. In a study by veterinarian Jeffie Roszel, "tracheal washes and samples from respiratory secretions of these horses showed enormous lung damage, the same kind of damage you would expect from a heavy smoker."(11) Horses' nostrils are usually only 3 to 3 1/2 feet above street level, so these animals are "truly ... living a nose-to-tailpipe existence."(12)
Carriage horses also routinely suffer at the hands of poorly trained drivers. Because they are constantly walking and standing on hard streets, "lameness and hoof deterioration are inevitable" in carriage horses, says Cheever. "The problems are worsened by the inexperience of the gross majority of the owners and drivers, who are either incapable of recognizing lameness or are unwilling to suffer financial loss by removing a horse from service for a few days."(13) Many drivers don't know how to fasten harnesses correctly, and either leave straps so loose they rub and chafe the horse's skin, or buckle the straps so tightly they pinch. And few horses are fitted with new horseshoes as often as is needed.
Unstable Conditions
Conditions for carriage horses aren't much better when the horses are off the streets. Raids on carriage horse stables have exposed stalls with no hay or other bedding, stall floors covered with urine and manure, poor ventilation in the stables, and horses who had no free access to water. Many stables have stacked floors--like parking garages--with steep ramps leading from one floor to the next. The floors in one stable were so rotten, they often gave way under the weight of the horses, repeatedly causing animals to break their legs.(14) In 1991, two horses owned by a carriage horse operator in New York died after being fed bad hay.(15)
It Isn't Romantic
Not surprisingly, carriage horse operators view attempts to regulate their industry--through stipulations on where and how long horses can work, temperature restrictions, and mandatory veterinary care--as economic threats. One carriage horse operator in Charleston, S.C., even said, "[L]egislation is ridiculous."(16)
In her classic novel, Black Beauty, Anna Sewell wrote, "My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt."(17)
People around the world agree and are increasingly recognizing that it's the carriage horse industry--not just the horses--who are taking them for a ride. Pressure from concerned residents has resulted in bans on carriage horses in a growing number of cities, including Palm Beach, Florida; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; London; Paris; and Toronto.
References
King, Marcia, "The Carriage Trade: Putting the Cash Before the Horse," The Animals' Agenda, June 1992, p.43.
Cheever, Holly, D.V.M., Letter to legislators, September 1991, p.1.
King, The Animals' Agenda, p.43.
King, Marcia, "Focus on the Reality," Advocate, Summer 1992, pp.15-16.
Cheever, p.3.
King, Advocate, p.16.
Cheever, p.2.
King, Advocate, p.18.
"NY City: Have You No Pity?," Factsheet, Carriage Horse Action Committee, p.2.
King, Advocate, p.18.
Ibid, p.18.
Cheever, p.2.
King, Advocate, p.19.
Eddy, Eric, "Inhumane Carriage Horse Stable Exposed," Our Town, November 30, 1986.
Associated Press, "Bad Hay Blamed in Horses' Deaths," Democrat and Chronicle, August 26, 1991.
Evans, Charlotte, "Quaint Or Cruel?," Equus, Number 139.
Wynne-Tyson, Jon, ed., The Extended Circle: A Commonplace Book of Animal Rights, 1989, p.320.
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