Circus discards animal rights

Nice article Drew

Wow I was reading this, and thought that we were talking about mistreatment of humans, then I realized the article was indeed about animals.
Stop crying, animals dont have rights, THEY ARE ANIMALS.
If we grant them rights then we must hold them accountable for their actions, which would include rape, murder, and cannibalism.
You make it sound like they are killing these animals left and right. I have not checked the market vaue of an elephant but I hae to believe its fairly high, and the circus will want to protect its investment.

PS:
Why dont you mention the animal rights nut jobs who firebombed our campus a few years ago.

I really don’t think an electric prod is going to hurt an elephant. The guy said himself that it took 55 bullets to the head to bring one down. And the bullooks, well i’m no zoologist but i’m pretty sure an elephants skin is very thick.

I’m against needless torture but drew has shown us no proof or citations of animal crualty, only assumptions.
I also think its good for our children to see the vast array of animal life our world has to offer. Going by Drews logic the zoos will be next because the animals didn’t pick that profession either. Did my chicken and beef I had for dinner choose to provide me sustenance to get through the day?

Before one rights an article they need to evaluate their logic and back their claims with credible evidence because it soon can expand to include a whole lot more than is intended (or is it intended?)

Next time you go to meijer to hit the 2 for 1 sale on bags of chicken breasts be sure to ask the chicken community if you can eat them first.

Re: prods and animal skin

That is true. I am not sure about elephants but I do know that while human skin is about 1mm thick that a horse’s skin is about 5mm thick and a bull’s skin is about 8mm thick (this is why rodeo spurs – which are not sharpened – do not cut the skin of bulls or horses).

The fact of the matter is that an electric prod is the safest and most humane way to move a large animal. My cousin is a large animal vet and he uses the prods extensively. I don’t think he would do it if doing so was dangerous or overly painful.

Think about this everyone. These animals do the tricks they do in the circus because they were trained with violence. They know if they don’t do the tricks something bad will happen to them. So they do them.

Logical thinking has led me to come the conclusion that animals aren’t here for us to just do whatever the fuck we want with them.

Another Human Rights Activist: Hey, i’ve thought about it and logical thinking has led me to believe that you have no evidence for what you just said. It is nothing more than your ill thought out opinion. You based this opinion not on experience or research but on an your radical animal rights idea and won’t take any other explanation as fact.

And i’m guessing you are a veagan? Because if you were not, than you too are doing “whatever the f!x$” you want with them.

these animals do not need our help b/c they are fine.

i hope the royal hanneford company sues the statenews for libel just to make a point.

circus animals are treated great. period.

It’s a red herring to claim that someone who favors the conferring of rights on to animals believes that they should be held legally responsible for their actions, or should have the right to register for gubernatorial elections.

Rights should be conferred onto creatures on the basis of their capacity to appreciate them.

The funny thing is that we all already do this. If you were riding a bicycle and accidentally crushed the life out of a rabbit, you would feel far worse than you would have felt about a beetle. We seem to understand when confronted with a somewhat intelligent animal that it at least appreciates pain, is amused by some activities, and upset by others.

Fair disclosure: I haven’t eaten meat in nearly a decade. The mainstream position among ethical vegetarians is that food animals should at least be allowed to run around outside, and should be killed in a relatively painless and not-especially-terrifying manner.

As for circuses, mammals intelligent enough to perform on command can do so because they’re intelligent enough to have some sort of inner life, which consists of a perceived past, present and future.

Bears would rather be digging salmon out of a river than juggling.

Primates are perfectly capable of sitting in a motorcycle sidecar. It is probably not their first choice.

We evolved the capacity to climb because tigers ate the not-so-lucky competitors of our ancestors. The tiger does not want your head in his mouth. Only the whips and cattle prods keep him from tearing you in two.

vegans are weird. and unhealthy.

What could possibly be more American than a big circus with animals?

The truth is that a lot of folks think humans have the right to do whatever they damn well please with most everything on earth be it animal, vegetable, or mineral. Some how the “subdue the earth” part of the Bible gives them leave to abuse any and everything. No wonder we still behave like cavemen dressed in suits. As for the statement about what’s more American then a big circus. If you look at history I would say that should read War.

“It is because of people like this that I have to carry a police-size can of pepper spray with me in my rodeo bag”

I thought it was for a cheap high? ; )

How is it that they get those million-dollar bucking bulls to buck? Just ask them, and they do it?

You’re right, you should be allowed to entertain yourself in any way you see fit…until and unless you’re harming something or someone else in the process. Then it’s not just about you.

What does any of this have to do with you carrying pepper spray, exactly?

Great Article!
I can’t imagine how the elephants must feel, being kept in a trailer all day, and only coming out to perform and be, “trained”. This confinement has to be maddening for them, as they have territory ranges of up to 5,900 square miles and are constantly patrolling and foraging through this area. I would go crazy and attack people too if I had was meant to roam that much!
Also, elephants actually have very sensitive skin, especially behind the ears, on their faces, and behind the joints. These are the areas that are usually pierced when giving injections and I imagine this where the bull hooks are applied, the animals would have a hard time responding to the tip of this, “training” tool if it were applied elsewhere.
The only way these animals submit to the trainers is by being subjected to beatings and forced into doing tricks and other unnatural behaviors out of fear.

With these “animal right fanatics” we can expect laws forbidding us to kill insects, huntings, eating meat, wear furs, no circus, no zoos, no animal testing, no horse pulling carriages like the ones in New York City and Vienna, Austria in Europe, and even banning the old movie comedies, or “Tarzan films”, like Curly of the “Three Stooges” battling a monkey [Its “demeaning” to the monkey]. Yes, I totally DISLIKE animal rights fanatics, completely. Don’t mark me wrong: I would not harm a dog or cat, nor a squirrel, I don’t hunt personally and like to see the birds flying around. I will never harm them. But also love a good chicken stew with rice and salad. Yummy! “Animal rights fanatics” can go to hell.
P.D.: The “animal rights fanatics” don’t seem to realize this: the uses of animals is what pushed humanity to this civilization we are living now. Didn’t the crog magnon men of the “stone age” hunt boars to eat, and wear the fur to protect them from the “Ice Age”?

Mr. Anonymous: Are you saying that we should act like cave men? I guess we haven’t gotten any smarter since the ice age.

Everyone should watch the Penn and Teller episode of Bullshit on this. It’s quite funny.

Put that big mac down: What valid points did he make? All he said in that whole paragraph was that he supported animal cruelty and speciesism.

If being against cruelty to animals everytime makes me an animal rights fanatic then I’m proud to be an animal rights fanatic. I am also against racism and sexism everytime. Does that make me some sort of human rights fanatic too?

We have gotten smarter over the years. We don’t need to exploit animals anymore. Our speciesist attitudes are causing us to destroy our planet.

Even if you don’t think animals have rights, conditions could certainly be much more humane. This is a circus that continuously gets cited for violations, refuses to let people do tours of its facilities, and canceled on a very civil meeting. Let’s find something better East Lansing. I don’t want to be a party to torture. If we are going to teach our kids about the animals our world has to offer, let’s do it in a way that promotes a positive relationship between other animals and humans. There are plenty of events that treat animals well that we can bring here.

Mr Anonymous, it is true that using animals is a large part of how humans got to where we are. But, being humans we have the ability to control our world and culture now. If we decide that we don’t want torture to be part of our ethic (not saying we have decided that) then we should choose to get rid of it. And if that is part of Puerto Rican culture then they can make their own choice about it. But the point here is, as a community, let’s now support animal cruelty in this form. We are quite better than that I hope.

You call it “speciesm”, whatever that name means and I don’t mind. Anyway, I call it “cultural relativity”. Some cultures make a “fuss” with “animal cruelty”. Others don’t give a damn. Why argue.

P.D.:So some say we have gotten “smarter”? Are you sure? I see a world marching to nuclear destruction sooner or later. And I will vote democrat.

Phil: No one here is for torture or animal cruelty. Please post a quote if we said that.

Again, you people are all over this, for what reasons I don’t know. If they’re really torturing these animals then yes I do agree they should be stopped (only the ones that are torturing, not the entire industry) but proof needs to be shown first. If it’s as bad as its made out to be you should expect to see the animals in the performance with signs that they have been tortured. Also a tortured animal is not a stable animal, they will eventually turn on the trainer or cause trouble during the shows. Something that I’m sure happens occasionally but all animals do that at times.

For some reason everyone is just a little too caught up with this. Maybe its some sort of secret agenda, I really don’t know. There are plenty of ways you can channel your energy to help the world, one is by helping the countless number of Humans that are in desperite need of care worlwide. Be proactive for humans first, think of animals second.

Oh, and Phil. I do believe that humans are superior to animals, if we were not than we should make no effort to help them. Animals cannot voluntarily help us but we can voluntarily help them, that makes us superior and if that makes me a “speciest” then so be it.

Again, I’m against animal cruelty but I also think you people should put that same kind of effort and compasion into helping people first.

In circuses, animals are tortured on a regular basis.
When eating animals, animals are [supposed to be] killed in a quick and painless fashion.

I’d rather be killed quickly and painlessly than to be tortured regularly in a traveling circus.

If you believe that we should do whatever we want with animals, remember that they have nerves, nerve endings, and brains. They have blood. They experience pain like we do; the fact that they can not express their pain in words does not make the pain non-existent.

Having this circus come to MSU is against MSU’s current motto/slogan/whatever they put on the msu.edu website and on those flags that are on light posts around campus: “Advancing knowledge. Transforming lives.” Circuses don’t advance knowledge. If you want to learn about animals in Lansing, go to the Potter Park Zoo. The only life transforming this show will do is putting cash in the pockets of animal abusers, and hurting animals used in the show.

Good luck to SPAR; great article, Drew! :)

I saw two elephants getting it on in the zoo. It was evident the female wasn’t enjoying herself because she didn’t as much as make an elephant noise. Plus, her man was a white elephant, not an African elephant and I think we all know what that means.

It’s common knowledge circuses tend to use African elephants and I’m almost positive that female elephant would have been much happier at the circus.

No, my dear Marie. Vegans are just mentally maladjusted. Can’t face the real world. And circus have brouhgt entertainment to billions. Ever heard of the world famous Moscow Circus? People like you make our lifes much poorer.

And how do you explain Argentinians, real meat eaters, like “beef on charcoal” [churrascos] have LOWER cancer rates than the people of USA and Europe? Many of you “vegans”, I understand moderate vegetarians, are misinforming the public. You can’t fool me. I state what I stated. No excuse. You have one purpose only: push your lifestyle to the rest of us humans militantly like some religious “fundamentalists” misionaries, I can understand the traditional Christian fundamentalists, or even Muslims. And I eat more cereals, more fruits and vegetables than meat. However, I still love that chicken stew. Yummy! Bye!