Other resources:
In Defense of Animals' Circus Facts
Peta's Circus Campaign
Animal Protection Institute's Circus Campaign


Animals in Entertainment

Rodeos. Dog fights. Dog racing. Horse racing. Circuses. Zoos. Movies.
Humans have no shortage of imagination when it comes to forcing animals to amuse us. RMAD's litmus test for whether an activity is abusive is quite simple: Does the animal benefit from it? If not, we're against it. And none of the activities stated above passes the test.

Animals in Circuses
Circus animals suffer long lives of abuse, neglect, and confinement. The training process, which starts with removing babies from their mothers, consists of food and water deprivation and beatings with whips, bullhooks, and even baseball bats. These animals also must endure grueling travel schedules and confinement in cages, chains, boxcars, and tractor-trailers.

Circuses passing through Colorado this year — including Ringling Bros., Sterling & Reid Bros., Jordan World, and Shrine (Tarzan Zerbini) — carry with them a long list of animal abuses and human injuries, including:

• a bear falling from a truck onto the highway
• a tiger beaten with a hockey stick
• eight emaciated ponies (confiscated by authorities)
• several elephant trainers requiring hospitalization from incidents involving the animals
• a tiger with a leg fracture left untreated for weeks
• nine people injured when two elephants toppled a barricade.

Since 1998, five highly publicized deaths have occurred in the Ringling Bros. Circus: Gypsy, a sea lion; Sabre, a horse; Arnie, an endangered Bengal tiger; and Kenny and Benjamin, two baby Asian elephants. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) charged Ringling with Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations for the death of Kenny, who was forced to perform while seriously ill. Ringling settled the case with a $20,000 check.

Eight states and 14 cities (including Estes Park, Colorado) have already placed full or partial bans on public animal displays. And federal legislators are now considering a bill to ban the use of elephants in circuses.

RMAD volunteers have distributed more than 10,000 leaflets at circuses this year. We've encouraged some 30 carloads of potential patrons to not enter the big top. We have received favorable media attention from Channel 7 News, Channel 31 News, KNUS radio, The Denver Post, and others. When Sterling & Reid arrived in Longmont, Colorado, they were greeted with a critical front page story in the Longmont Times-Call about two USDA investigations of the circus and the appalling conditions of its travelling shark show.

Contact us to get your circus action packet and to find out about upcoming activities.

Estes Park Bans Exhibition of Wildlife

RMAD-backed initiative halts proposed zoo

In November 1999, Estes Park voters gave a victory to the animals by passing Initiative 200, which prohibits the exhibition of wildlife in the town. [Click Here to Read Initiative 200 ]

The ordinance, which succeeded with 53% of the vote, prohibits zoos and most animal circus activities within town limits and effectively prohibited International Concept Management (ICM), a Grand Junction-based organization, from constructing a zoo in Estes Park. The battle over the exhibition of wildlife began when local citizens learned of ICM's proposal to construct a plexiglass zoo in the eastern gateway community to Rocky Mountain National Park. The zoo was to contain animals native to Colorado, with several animals each of some 46 species, including bobcats, foxes, prairie dogs, otters, trout, and birds of prey. The facility would be entirely enclosed and the animals kept behind plexiglass, with no natural ventilation or lighting — all this within a few miles of Rocky Mountain National Park, one of the most scenic and abundant natural places on the continent.

In June 1999, the Estes Park trustees approved ICM's proposal despite numerous objections from residents of the Estes Park valley and animal advocates. Local citizens, supported by RMAD, then reverted to the safety net offered by the initiative process. We drafted an initiative to prohibit the exhibition of wildlife in Estes Park. The ordinance went before voters in November.

"This is a great victory for the animals," states RMAD President David Crawford. "And it's a great victory for Estes Park and indeed the State of Colorado. The good folks of Estes Park have sent a clear message that they will not stand for the exploitation of wildlife."

One of the program's goals was to show that zoos, in general, are more about entertainment and less about education. "The more we learn about how little 'education' really occurs at the average zoo," states Crawford, "the more difficult it becomes for zoo proponents to justify condemning animals to miserable lives in cages."

Animals in Zoos and Aquariums

Zoos and aquariums, as a rule, are entertainment facilities that offer little benefit for animals. As an example, the Denver Zoo contributes a paltry 4% of its budget to its conservation biology efforts (whereas the Bronx Zoo contributes nearly 40% of its budget for conservation efforts). The Denver Zoo also continues to exploit the public's penchant for seeing baby animals while ignoring its more serious charge of education.