Does anyone know what the reason is for this "type" of staging for the animals? Are they attempting to make it less like a circus, or more like a zoo?
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Animal Open House is presented in the first of its kind, Botanical Oasis
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Wade G. Burck
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12 comments:
I think this is a great idea. Regardless of their zoo facsimile or effort, it portrays the animals in a more positive light and gives the public a first hand contradiction to the animal rights statements of tigers locked in rolling cages and elephants chained the side of trucks hourly.
Anyone else notice the handlers needed to protect the trees from the elephants within the hotwire pen?
Special promotion for the spot..
Radar,
How does having an elephant stand by a rose bush make you think wild, and not captivity? You can plant all the begonia's and daisy's you want, they are still in captivity. I should think more effort in the captivity part, and not as much with "smoke and mirror's" would go a lot further in showing the change and validity of captive animals. If you put sugar on shit, you are not eating a donut.
Wade Burck
If it's such a good idea to contradict what the animal rights people are saying, maybe don't lock the tigers in rolling cages or chain the elephants to whatever. Putting a plant in front of a rolling cage doesn't make it NOT a rolling cage, does it? And moving the animals out of cages or off chains for an hour before showtime doesn't mean that they are not still chained and caged, does it? Looks like the cover-up is all that matters to Radar.
Wade,
I did not say the plants make one think wild. I said they help present the animals captive habitat in a more positive light. Does a hotwire pen holding elephants on grass in the New York mountains not give a better first impression than elephants chained to a truck on a asphalt lot behind a convention center? The first impression can be improved, then pique the visitors' curiosity with signage describing the efforts to support the animal's self-sustaining population in captivity for fear they will be gone from the wild in a matter of decades, lest years. (It seems we are starting to describe a zoo again). Though is that a bad thing? Who can argue that an exercise pen/hotwire pen covered with a sawdust terrain is not better for public image than cats locked in rolling cages and a herd of elephants chained on a picket line in the concrete basement of the convention center?
Anonymous Coward,
I wish I had seen your comment before I published my last one. However, that is EXACTLY what I am saying. Yes, the tigers live in the rolling cages, or the beast wagon, or whatever mode of transportation is used. Tiger in the cage - allowed by law. Tiger out of the cage - breaking the law. But they should be given as much time as possible outside of the smaller enclosure into the larger one when possible. It is understandable though the argument that the cats sleep sixteen to eighteen hours a day, regardless the space they are given.
I would like to point out to the Anonymous Coward once more to come see our show. Or if you are ashamed to see yourself on the grounds of a circus check out our blog or any of my pictures. The elephants are loose all day in the yard and unless needing shelter from the cold are only in the truck for the hour or two needed to move to the next town. The tigers spend all morning and afternoon running around, sleeping, playing, fighting (whatever it is they desire) in their yard together until it is time to work for practice and the show. Do you not send your kids to bed when it is bedtime? Is that not confinement? Just like children, they have boundaries and rules as well.
Oh, my, Radar, you sure got your panties in a bunch there. First of all, can we point out that "Anonymous Coward" is just as good a nickname as "Radar" - and just as informative. So I'll stick with that, if you don't mine. My name would mean nothing to you, but it might to others and I prefer to keep it out of things. Call it cowardice, if you will.
Now, on to the substance, if you can calm down enough to speak rationally. I said nothing about your show - I thought we were talking about Ringling? I have actually seen your show several times, and yes I saw that the elephants are unchained during the day. Ringling's are not. They are actually, mostly, "chained in a picket line in the concrete basement of the convention center."
Your tigers may well lead a better life than most circus tigers, too, although they have never been visible when I have visited, except in the show. I have seen photos of them on your blog.
I didn't see any signage describing anything much, though, so unless you've added that in the past 2 weeks, are we back to talking about some other show? You confuse me.
The point of my comment, and I'll stick with it, is that you seem to be far more concerned with contradicting "animal rights statements" which are absolutely true. Whether or not it's ok to keep tigers in beast wagons, or elephants in hotwire pens - and I'm reasonably sure we would disagree on that issue - the facts remain that you are looking for ways, or at least applauding ways, to cover up the realities of circus life for these animals.
If you really think it's so great that wild animals with a biological need to move great distances are kept confined, then why the need to cover up the confinement?
-AC
I think it comes to creating a better public image, as Radar and anonymous seemed to allude to. Could it also be that this stadium-NOT an arena-is a cold, open, cavernous space, and they are just using these plants to brighten/ liven the place up for the public? Honestly without them it does not look that welcoming, and unless you appreciate animals, who would want to go back there? I would imagine that most of the public is not there with animal rights in mind. Ringling is at the forefront of animal rights battles, as most people associate circus with Ringling, and the AR groups play to this. It is/ was the largest and most famous circus in the Western hemisphere. Think back to when Ringling airbrushed whips and bullhooks out of their programs. I also remember when they had the elephant handler's in the pre-show carry concealed "tools" that fit in their palms, rather than a hook (early 2000 years). I have not heard a whip crack at Ringling in several years, aside from on a tiger act. During the animal open house the leg chains were not even visible in the background. All of these changes may have been a way for Ringling to preserve their self-image and frankly if it was, I don't blame them. I would like to have Ringling, and circus in general, around for future generations. If the animal rights groups have their way, shows like Cirque would be the closest we could get to circus. While those shows have their place, and I DO enjoy them, they are most certainly NOT circus.
-Chris
AC,
Good points, especially the shot at Radars panties in a bunch. You must have seen him on the lot.
Just a thought, when you are commending KM and whacking Ringling. It is much easier, to set up an exercise cage or turn elephants loose in a hot fence on a tent show then a building show. Not only are there often space limitations, but also various local restrictions in the larger cities. On a tent show, it is pretty close to the same set up and size every day, with rare exception. When all is perfect, Ringlings animals are as "free", and well looked after as anybodies, often better.
Wade
AC,
First, there is a big difference in using a "cute" name to make a smartass comment as opposed to withholding identity to make accusatory statements. As far as my "Radar" moniker, feel free to click it before my comment as it will pull up my real name, email, website and profession. I use it for my posts on Casey's blog as that is what I go by here.
I thought we were talking about contradicting AR statements (which are not absolutely true - I thought that was discredited with what you have seen over here?) Daily routines of different shows/owners differ up and down the scale, from good to bad. The goal is to standardize husbandry and keeping. However, as AR tell that the worst of the worst is how everyone is, yes I get a bit offended and my panties will bunch.
No, no one on this show uses signage. I did not say we did. I said it would be a good idea.
I am not looking at ways for covering up realities - I described how they were in some places. I am looking for ways to improve the standard (or at minimum create a standard) just like Wade has described so often.
The biological need to move great distances is for survival of the individual and the species - searching for food, mating and protection from predators. If all that is provided, the "biological need" is diminished. Why are they going to walk ten miles away for food if it is provided there?
Confinement is a relative term. In the wild, where everyone wants everything to be released, if they leave a certain boundary they are killed by locals or foreigners alike. Is that not confinement? The animals need exercise to stay fit. They don't need an entire continent to stay fit.
Wade - an interesting point, about the tent vs building shows, but Ringling's set ups are rarely perfect, by your terms. I've seen them in a lot of different places, and they are usually chained on that picket line underground. Nice to think that this is the unfortunate result of venue limitations, but isn't that the tail wagging the dog, if what we are talking about is animal welfare? Couldn't the argument be made that the choice could be made to get to "perfect" more often if the welfare of the animals was a bigger motivator?
Also, I've seen plenty of tent shows where the elephants are never off their chains, so let's give Kelly Miller some credit here. They could very easily chain them to the truck like others do.
I don't think you can tar "all AR" with the same ideas any more than you can tar "all circuses" with the same level of care. It's ignorance on both sides that provoke such generalizations.
By "absolutely true" I was still talking about Ringling. AR statements that Ringling's elephants spend their days largely chained are true, and suggesting that putting bushes in front of them for the hour or so that they are allowed off-chains for the open house is good for discrediting AR claims is not the same as advocating for standardizing husbandry or any other laudable goal. I still say that you were simply pushing a cover-up with your original statement.
The biological needs of elephants to move is not diminished by giving them food or protection. They still need to move a great deal or they develop problems not seen in wild populations. They move for all sorts of reasons. Studies show that the ready availability of food does not significantly impact their movements. And no, I am not advocating for a return to the wild. But there's a whole big region between "the wild" and "chained to a truck" and I suspect that we would land on very different parts of that region.
Anonymous,
When you go into a city, you live by city rules and regulations. If they made concession's for one, they would have to make concessions for all. Right now the screwy United States is puking and getting ready to implode trying to be pc and make every body and everything happy. I still believe in a majority, and the rest can get on the short bus to where ever it is they want to go.
Wade
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