Circus Abuse

Published in Waking Up on the Planet, June 2004

Wake-Up Call: Three-Ring Threat

By Karen M. Jones

Yesterday I read about Clyde, the 2-year-old lion who died last month in a sweltering boxcar on a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus train. According to an article in the Washington Post, an animal handler with the circus knew the lion -- and other animals in the boxcar -- were in distress and asked that the train be stopped to give them water and cool them off. Circus officials refused, saying they would be late to arrive at the next performance venue. Clyde died en route.

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey claim that animals are necessary to circus entertainment, but acts such as Cirque du Soleil, Blue Man Group and others have proven otherwise. Please do your part by not attending circuses that use animals; teach your children that wild animals weren't put here to perform unnatural acts for commercial gain. There are too many other forms of genuine entertainment available today to justify continuing this inhumane practice. Tomorrow, the city of Denver votes on a potential ban of animal circus acts. Consider asking your city or town to follow suit.

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