06/22/2021 (3) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Additional Back-up 10.B.1. • 6/22/2021 Undercover investigators and employee whistleblowers have reported, photographed and videotaped abuse of wild animals that would be protected by the Ordinance including lions, tigers, monkeys, and bears, as well as other animals used in circuses in the United States and abroad. In 2018, an investigation showed, among other things, that a circus trained bears "primarily using aversive techniques, meaning that an uncomfortable or painful stimulus is applied in order to force the animal to move or act how the handler wants it to." In 2017, the Humane Society of the United States published an investigative report that documented a circus trainer's abuse of tigers; for example, the investigator observed the trainer whipping a tiger 31 times in two minutes during a training session. One former circus employee reported that he observed circus employees regularly hitting tigers on the head, jabbing tigers with sticks in the genitals and under the head, and intentionally shutting cage doors on their tails. Occasionally, circuses even kill animals that they are unable to control. For example, in 1992, in Palm Bay, Florida an elephant went rogue at a circus with a mother and her children on its back. This resulted in the elephant being shot multiple times by a local police officer and ultimately killed while the public watched in horror. b. Extensive Travel and Prolonged Confinement Can Be Detrimental to Circus Animals' Physical and Psychological Health. Wild animals are particularly harmed by being forced to travel for long periods of time, living in inadequate housing, and experiencing harsh conditions on the road as they are transported to different venues. For example, in 2010, an inspection report indicated that a popular circus confined 12 tigers to cages and gave them no opportunities to exercise aside from their circus performances in Chicago. • In 2010, a Marin County (California) Humane Society inspection report observed that a circus did not appear to be adequately exercising its tigers (and implied that it was possible that the only exercise they received was during their 12 -minute circus acts), that there were periods when tigers had no access to water, and that the floors of the tigers' transport cages had large splinters and could be a potential safety hazard. Occasionally, circus animals' traveling conditions may be so extreme that they result in death. For example, in 2004, a lion died while traveling in a boxcar. One animal welfare group estimates that many circus animals spend eleven months a year traveling. • In addition to requiring long periods of travel, circuses have been cited numerous times by the USDA and in some cases have been found guilty of failing to provide adequate veterinary care, causing these animals discomfort, failing to provide appropriate enclosures, and failing to remove excrement from enclosures to prevent animals from contamination.