Animals used in traveling shows and menageries are often subjected to severe abuse in order to force them to provide \u201centertainment\u201d at county and state fairs, shopping malls, theme parks, schools, flea markets, nursing homes, birthday parties, and trade shows. Typical acts include petting zoos, \u201cperforming\u201d primates, donkey basketball games, pig racing, and pig diving. At some events, members of the public can pay to have their photographs taken with tiger and lion cubs. The variations are limited only by the imagination of the exhibitors, who are looking to make an easy dollar. Baby animals are continuously bred for these shows and then discarded.<\/p>\n
Training, Transport, and Display Are Harmful to Animals<\/h3>\n
Rigorous training methods involving electric shocks, beatings, and food deprivation are used to force animals to perform acts that are unnatural and meaningless to them.<\/p>\n
Pig races at fairs are all too familiar, and they\u2019ve taken on a new twist at events in which potbellied pigs are forced to swim in pools. Pigs are not aquatic animals by nature, and according to one pig caretaker, \u201ca pig in the water is almost completely helpless and extremely stressed.\u201d1<\/sup> These highly intelligent, sensitive animals are also stressed by the constant travel and the large, boisterous crowds.<\/p>\n
Every year, schools, civic clubs, and recreation departments use donkey basketball games as fundraisers. During these games, donkeys are dragged around a court and mistreated by participants who have no animal-handling experience. \u201cUncooperative\u201d animals are often punched, kicked, whipped, and screamed at, and many animals are prohibited from eating or drinking before games in order to prevent \u201caccidents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Animals used in traveling acts are almost constantly confined to tiny transport cages or trailers. They suffer in extreme temperatures and are not provided with adequate food and water. The Zoo, a traveling animal exhibit run by Robert Engesser, has been repeatedly cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for inadequate animal care practices, including failure to provide proper diets, veterinary care, and environmental enrichment. On one visit, the inspecting veterinarian reported algae in the water buckets, a lion cub who was being fed inappropriate milk replacers, and a baboon who was being kept in solitary confinement and who was rolling her head and pacing, behaviors that indicate extreme mental distress.2<\/sup><\/p>\n
Without exercise, animals become listless and prone to illness, and as a reaction to stress and boredom, many resort to self-mutilation. Three 11-day-old tiger cubs who were being used for photo opportunities by a traveling zoo called Perry\u2019s Exotic Petting Zoo became listless, nauseated, and dehydrated while on exhibit in Thornton, Colorado. They died without receiving veterinary care. The USDA inspector investigating the deaths wrote, \u201cTransportation and handling stresses cannot be ruled out as contributing to their failed health.\u201d3<\/sup> Undercover video showed that after the Amarillo Wildlife Refuge forced a tiger cub named Ziggy to work a six-hour photo shoot in the blazing-hot parking lot of a Sam\u2019s Club store in Texas, the cub developed painful blisters on his paws from standing on the hot pavement all day.<\/p>\n
While taking part in photo shoots with animals and watching them perform may seem like harmless fun for kids, it is anything but. Barbara Boat, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at the University of Cincinnati\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital Medical Center\u00a0 cautions, \u201cAn industry based upon the use and abuse of wild animals has no place in either the education or entertainment of young children. We need to be teaching empathy, compassion, and sensitivity to the interconnectedness of all life, not abusive domination of others.\u201d4<\/sup><\/p>\n
Incidents in which animals attack spectators are common. A woman sought hospital treatment after she was bitten by an African lion cub exhibited by G.W. Exotic Animal Foundation at a Texas mall, where patrons were allowed to pet and interact with the lion.5<\/sup> A 4-year-old Florida girl suffered serious injuries, including a partially severed ear, when she was attacked by a cougar at a birthday party. The cougar had been provided by Wild Animal World, which had been cited at least twice previously for similar attacks.6<\/sup><\/p>\n