Why circuses and dolphinariums are animal mockery

Training is always associated with cruelty

If you think that animals are taught solely through rewards, then this is not the case. It's just that modern trainers consider the current methods humane, because they compare them not with the absence of cruelty, but with the methods that were used earlier. For example, the representative of the press service of the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, Yuri Nikulin, told RIA Novosti that animal rights activists simply confuse harshness and cruelty.

Children don't always behave well either. And whoever says anything, but a parent has the right to scold his child for the offense, and some may even slap on the priest. Someone outside will see this and say that the father hit his son. Another will say that he even beat him. So it is in the circus: the usual harshness is often confused with cruel treatment of animals.

Yuri Nikulin, representative of the press service of the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, grandson of the actor and clown Yuri Nikulin

“Someone outsider” would be absolutely right: it's called “hitting the child,” and the proponents of such parenting measures should have been sent back to the Middle Ages in the first passing DeLorean. There are also many questions about the "education" of animals. The beast was snatched from its familiar environment and forced to do things unusual for it. There is no need, this is done purely for fun. And therefore it does not even matter whether the trainer behaves harshly here or is cruel, it is still absurd. An animal does not need to be taught to live in a human society, it is simply stupid. Well, there is no doubt that training follows the second path.

It is necessary to overcome the resistance of the animal, to break his will and by all means make him perform this or that trick. The animal should feel that the person is stronger, although this sometimes ended tragically.

Yuri Nikulin from the book "Almost Seriously"

In his book "Almost Seriously," the actor and clown Yuri Nikulin recalled how, in an attempt to learn a new trick, the boy was brought to a heart attack. The animal died because it got too scared. And this is not an isolated case when animals suffer due to the fact that too much is demanded of them.

Honored Veterinarian of Russia Evgeny Sibgatulin at the Baltic Forum of Veterinary Medicine noted that up to 70% of his practice is the treatment of injuries caused by animal trainers. Sibgatulin worked as a veterinarian in a circus for over 30 years. According to him, the very basis of training is violence. A person must subordinate an animal to his will, and this is possible only by suppressing his will.

To teach a young tiger cub to stay on a curbstone, a piece of meat is placed on it. The tiger jumps up, but immediately, having eaten the meat, rushes away. And as soon as he goes down, they begin to beat him with aluminum rods. And so every time: a treat awaits the baby on the curbstone, and outside it - severe beatings. This information is fixed in the memory of the animal, and, thus, it is fear that makes it remain on the pedestal. The answer to the question of whether it is possible to achieve a precise performance of this or that trick from a predator with just a delicacy is obvious: of course not!

Evgeny Sibgatulin from the report "Training as an inhuman phenomenon in modern society"

Another way to make an animal obedient is hunger.

Oksana Danilova, an activist of the VITA Animal Rights Center, got a job in a circus as a cleaner and filmed with a hidden camera how animals are trained.

Dolphinariums and aquariums are no exception. Dolphins, performing tricks, do not smile - they just have such a structure of the muzzle. For them, this is not a carefree game, it is the result of using the carrot and stick method, and there is much more of a stick there.

Animals are in jail without any fault

As Evgeny Sibgatulin noted in his report, in Soviet times, animals were treated more ruthlessly, since they were bought by the state. Now trainers have to be more careful with the animals, since they will have to acquire a new individual at their own expense.

But even this does not protect the animal. Traveling zoos by default cannot provide a comfortable environment for animals. "Artists" are doomed to exist in small cells, and if something happens, they are ready to easily sacrifice their lives.

In Penza, they found a bus belonging to the circus, in which a bear, raccoon dogs, foxes, ferrets, pigeons and other animals were locked without food (in the same bus!). In Samara, trainers of a bankrupt tent left the bears in their cages to die without food or water. In Buryatia, a fire in a traveling circus killed more than 30 animals. They could have been saved, but the hostess was afraid to open the cages, as there were predators. In the Ivanovo region, a camel and a donkey were left to their own devices, which were no longer needed. These are not all recent cases. But many tragedies simply remained unknown.

If it seems to you that this is only a big top problem, then you are mistaken. The sculptor Oksana Danilova first came to the backstage of the circus as a student, she had to make sketches of animals.

I saw bears there, gone crazy from the inability to move at least there. These are the closest cages measuring about 1.5 by 1.5 meters. Once I came to the circus, we were asked to wait, because there they kill a bear who attacked the trainer.

Oksana Danilova activist of the VITA Animal Rights Center

According to her, no circus can create good conditions for animals. It is always tightness and cruelty. There are exceptions, but they are few.

When circus bears are 10 years old, they usually go blind. This is due to the sudden changes in the light. The stable is dark and the arena is brightly lit.

Yuri Nikulin from the book "Almost Seriously"

It is simply impossible to create suitable conditions for the inhabitants of dolphinariums. These mammals in nature swim more than a hundred kilometers a day. Aviaries of this size and suitable depth do not exist. Large dolphinariums try to make large pools whenever possible, but they are not enough either. However, there are many small organizations that literally keep animals in tiny baths. And the quality of the water leaves much to be desired.

The situation is even worse when it comes to mobile dolphinariums. When transporting animals, the question is: are these conditions bad or very bad? Because even a very large cage or bathtub cannot replace the natural habitat.

Animals fall prey to poachers

Let's not blame all the trainers indiscriminately: for many, animals appear quite legally. But there are a lot of less honest guys among them. For example, quotas are issued for the capture of some species of dolphins for cultural and educational purposes. And we are talking about adults. But animals move in families and catch them with a net, so the number of animals caught is difficult to control. Equally, it is impossible to ensure that mothers are not separated from their cubs. Dolphins are social creatures, and separation from their family is a great stress for them. Large enough that they may not survive it.

In addition, in the dolphinariums there are mysteriously animals that are listed in the Red Book and whose capture is prohibited. Poaching is a lucrative business that will exist as long as there is demand. And the demand is created by visitors to dolphinariums.

Violence breeds new cruelty

The circus, where people perform amazing tricks, demonstrates how many possibilities the human body has and how strong the human will is. Artists overcome fear, train hard to show their art. What does the circus with animals teach children?

The children realized the cruelty of what was happening earlier than I did, and we stopped walking to such places. I took the children to the theater Durov, and we all sat in some awkward state. Either because of the guy who whipped the fat hippopotamus that barely climbed onto the curbstone, or because of the hippopotamus itself. Monkeys, bears - it was insanely pitiful and embarrassing for everyone. And somehow most of all for ourselves. We travel a lot to nature reserves, watch the life of animals in thematic programs. And in general it is imperceptible that we do not go to circuses. Probably because we always go somewhere.

Ekaterina mother of many children

If you are starved and beaten with a stick, you too will learn to perform tricks. But in a decent society, this is condemned and prosecuted. No one will praise your abuser for his courage and talent for training if you do something unnatural. But it seems normal to exploit animals in this way.

Moreover, it begins to seem that cruelty has an acceptable edge, if so you can get amazing results.

Better look at National Geographic once again. But what can we say, our children often do not know how a chicken and a cow look alive, and we want to show them elephants and bears.

Christina is a mother of many children

From the point of view of education, it is much more useful to let the child see animals in their natural habitat, tell how they behave, how they interact. There will be enough cruelty there too. But the lion kills the antelope because it wants to eat. Man slowly kills an animal for what? To have fun?