Animals in entertainment, what does that mean? It is all about animals being used for our fun. It does not matter so much if they are in circuses, big aquaria, rodeo's, zoo's, bull - dog - rooster fights, they all suffer because we want to have a 'good time'. More and more we learn about the abuse of animals in circuses from newspapers, or television newsstories. Or about the bad conditions of animals in zoo's, and how they are being sold for the highest bidder. Not to speak about the stories of large numbers of dolphins, who die during the catch, because we like to see them in shows. You can ask yourself if you still want to be part of this. As long as people visit these events in large numbers, it is hard to do something about it or even stop it. We lock up animals and teach them tricks, while some of them are more intelligent then the average human. It is not strange that most of these captive animals don't feel to happy in their situation. Animals bump their heads to the walls, are walking in circles all the time. They are bored and frustrated. It is possible they will attack humans, because their are more aggressive out of frustration. Very understandable, because it were us humans who abused them for all these years.

Animals at the circus.

It looks so nice, together with the whole family to the circus. But there is a lot of hidden animal abuse here too. The animals have to travel for many days, sitting in their small cages all of the time. The tigers have such small cages, they can hardly turn around. In this cage they eat, drink, and go to the toilet. You can imagine that it is not much fun, spending such a long time in such a small space.

The don't learn tricks by themselves.

Animals don't learn these tricks by themselves. In nature you don't see tigers jumping trough flaming hoop, or bears who ride bicycles or motorcycles. These things are tought with a lot of pain. They use whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods and other tools to train the animals. Anytime you see elephants, you will notice that circus employees nearby always hold an ankus (a wooden stick with a sharp, pointed hook at the end) to discourage undesired behaviour. The ankus is embedded into the most sensitive areas of an elephant, such as around the feet, behind the ears, under the chin, inside the mouth and other locations around the face, and is sometimes used to smash animals across the face. This is done to teach them tricks, or punish them for 'bad behaviour'. Especially the young elephants are beaten a lot if they don't learn fast enough. The animals can be hurt also because of the tricks they have to perform. For example the burning wounds that a tiger can get during jumping trough a flaming hoop.

• Click here to watch tigers being trained- and how much they like that. (RealPlayer 274 kb).

Also human victems.

Animals in circuses are a threat to public safety; wild animals on city streets give communities reason to be concerned. When animals are brought in by trains, the animals are sometimes walked to an arena where they will be performing. Cars and elephants are side-by-side on busy city streets. Again, the animals are forced to endure extreme temperatures. Although some animals are accustomed to the heat, they are not used to walking on hot pavement or to not have any access to water, trees or mud holes. Circus trainers will even withhold food and water from animals to reduce untimely excrement. Elephants in circuses have gone on rampages and caused destruction, injuring and killing spectators. Since 1990, 18 people have been killed and 86 injured. In 1994 an elephant named Tyke killed her "trainer", then went on a rampage in the streets on Honolulu, injuring onlookers and damaging property. Tyke was eventually gunned down in front of the public by police. Other incidents have occurred when elephants are frightened, sometime by the honking of car horns. Tigers have also been known to attack and kill their "trainers"; others have escaped into terrified communities. Eventually they will be shot, of course. Some elephants in circuses have been found to have a human strain of tuberculosis (TB). These animals pose a serious health risk since they are in contact with the public during publicity events and when children go for elephant rides.

Animals in Zoo's.

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 behaviour 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 very little water to live in 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 behaviours 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 behaviour, called zoochosis. A worldwide study of zoos conducted by the Born Free Foundation revealed that zoochosis is customary for confined animals around the globe. Another study found that elephants spend 22 percent of their time engaging in abnormal behaviours, such as repeated head bobbing or biting cage bars, and bears spend about 30 percent of their time pacing, a clear sign of distress.

Animals suffer.

Animals suffer from more than just 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 axe 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."

Protecting species from extinction.

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 favour exotic or popular animals that 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. Those that are endangered may have their fate 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.

Zoo babies.

Zoo babies are great crowd-pleasers, but what happens when babies grow up? Zoos often sell or kill animals that 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.