(written 9/29/2013)
This past Saturday I was invited to go to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus (RBBB) at the Energy Solutions Arena here in Salt Lake City. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love animals so of course I was in. I also thought it would give me another topic to blog about, so a win-win, right? After I parked my car, I saw a group of people standing on the corner of the street where the arena was. They were animal rights protesters holding signs with pictures of abused circus animals. I laughed at this; the circus doesn't abuse their animals! They promote animal conservation and education. I even told my friend that those "crazy PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) people were on the corner".
It has been at least 20 years since the last time I was at RBBB, and I was shocked at how much the souvenirs cost (that could be another blog post, another time). As the show started, I was brimming with excitement. All of the circus cast came out and it was almost magical to see. When I say it brought out the kid in me, I mean it. I "oohed" and "ahhed" through the whole show. The magnificent Elephants and Big Cats were of course my favorite. Then there were the performers that really did put on a great show. I left the circus happy and amazed, just like the circus is supposed to make you feel. I even took some photos of the show and was excited to add them to my blog for Monday.
My curiosity struck me today. I went and Googled Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. I was interested to learn the history of how the circus came about. While Wikipedia had the historical information I was seeking, Google had lots of other sites that came up about the circus' treatment of their animals. I clicked on a PETA video from 2009 that was available. This video showed employees of the RBBB circus hitting, stabbing and verbally abusing the elephants to make them perform as they are told. "This can't be right!" I said to myself. Then I saw one of the elephants that I had watched with so much admiration the night before (the one with the star marking on his behind) being treated the same way. My heart sank. My eyes started to water. Have I really supported this kind of treatment in attending the RBBB circus???
I was distraught. RBBB circus did put out a response to the PETA video: " The company is addressing the matter and will take all necessary actions, including redoubling its educational efforts, taking disciplinary actions, where appropriate, and possibly instituting additional systems of internal monitoring." -July 28, 2009
The RBBB circus says the video was "deceptively edited" by PETA. Of course PETA would be on a mission to convince you and I that these animals are abused and will show anything that gives warrant to that claim. I know this. But my eyes saw this terrible abuse. This could have been just the one instance. Maybe it's not happening anymore. Then I began to think about the animals themselves. They are not natural performers. They don't choose to be there, showing you handstands and jumping over their fellow tigers. They are being made to do these tricks. Tricks that are not natural behaviors for their species. I guess I never thought of the circus in this way.
Then I went on to the YouTube site for PETA. This made me feel even worse. I saw all sorts of awful treatment of animals, from circuses to dairy farms to butcheries. These videos made me sick to my stomach (PETA does a good job upsetting you, don't they?). All I could think about was the pork chop I had planned to have for dinner tonight and how I now could not bring myself to eat it. But the other side of me said: "Wait a minute, is what PETA claims really true?" The internet has so much information, so on I went to investigate some of PETA's activites. I came across a Huffington Post article by Nathan J. Winograd: "Shocking Photos: PETA's secret slaughter of Kittens, Puppies". Nathan makes claims that PETA inhumanely kills the animals that they are trying to save, and in very high numbers. It goes further to state that PETA, although they take in thousands of animals, they do not have a shelter facility at all! Where do these animals go? From Nathan's article: "'90% [of the animals] were euthanized within the first 24 hours of custody,' according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture inspector. How can people adopt animals from PETA when they kill the animals they acquire within minutes without ever making them available for adoption?"
So what should I believe? Is the RBBB circus really bad? Does PETA practice what they preach? With all of the information circulating the internet, libraries and TV's, how DO you find the truth? The answer: I still do not know. My intent for today's post was to share with you all the wonder and amazement that "The Greatest Show On Earth" claims to be. But after learning of some of these disturbing events, I didn't want to post any pictures from the circus. I also will not share links to the sites and articles I have read and quoted because I am not here to persuade you in one way or the other. If you want to find these sites, all you have to do is Google. (All of the videos and photos I have seen today were very disturbing and sad, and I will not force you to view/watch them). I had such an emotional reaction to the information that I found today, and I wanted to write about how it affected me, how it provoked my thoughts. I couldn't bring myself to eat that pork chop tonight and seriously considered taking my meat back to the grocery store that I purchased last night. Does this mean I am now a vegetarian and will force Loren to forgo his pepperoni and ground beef pizzas??...probably not. I am just viewing things a little differently now. I'm not on the for-RBBB side or the for-PETA side, just on the for-animals side. I hate to see any animal being mistreated for whatever reasons. I also know that people don't always think the same way and what I call "abuse" may not be to another person. But it still makes my heart hurt, and I'm super sensitive in that way. I have so much love and compassion for animals, how can I make a difference? I can make a difference just in the way I treat my own two cats. This I do know.
Thanks for reading.
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