The MSPCA is opposed to the use of wild animals in circuses and traveling shows because of the abusive training inflicted on the animals, the near-constant confinement and chaining endured by the animals while not performing, and the risk posed to public health and public safety.
On August 8, 2024, Massachusetts became the 11th U.S. state to restrict the use of wild animals for entertainment, banning the use of elephants, bears, giraffes, primates, and big cats in traveling animal acts. In so doing, the Commonwealth joined over 40 countries worldwide as well as more than 200 localities across 37 states.
This victory was the culmination of 20 years of hard work by advocates and legislators. Also, leading up to this success, 15 cities and towns in Massachusetts (Amherst, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Mendon, Northampton, Quincy, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Provincetown, Revere, Somerville, Topsfield, Weymouth, and Wilmington) passed similar local laws, some of which exceed the state-level prohibitions. Local action such as this can be a significant driver of state law, helping to build awareness and demonstrate the importance of the issue to state legislators.
(To learn more about acting locally, visit our webpages to learn why acting locally is important, and how to build support for your local issue. You can also read Advocate Spotlights on our website that showcase citizen advocates behind the successful local campaigns.)
Why are we concerned about wild animals in circuses?
Wild and exotic animals used for entertainment suffer their entire lives. They are taken from their families at a young age; endure abusive training methods that include restraints, bullhooks, chains, clubs, whips, and electric shock devices; and endanger public health and safety.
The case of Beulah the elephant in particular highlights the suffering that exotic circus animals endure. In September of 2019, Beulah the elephant, who was being exhibited at The Big E Fair in West Springfield, collapsed and died not long after. Roughly five months after her death, in February of 2020, the USDA reported that the cause of death was septicemia from a painful uterine infection called pyometra.
Beulah was born in the wild in 1967, captured as a baby, and sold to the Commerford Zoo when she was 6 years old. She suffered from a painful foot disorder and spent most of her 54 years in captivity and in chains. Her owners have been cited by the USDA over 50 times for failing to adhere to the Animal Welfare Act. Learn more about this tragic news and her cause of death in a subsequent piece.
Abusive Training and Weak Legal Protections
Few legal protections exist for animals used in circuses. Though the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) requires that minimal standards of care and treatment are provided to warm-blooded animals traveling with circuses, the reality is that violations of the weakly enforced AWA law are a frequent occurrence. With only 107 inspectors for over 13,874 licensees, it is impossible for the USDA to ensure the welfare of over 1.4 million covered animals. Furthermore, wild animal training sessions, where much of the abuse occurs, are not monitored at all.
Exotic wild animal circus “tricks” result from a negative reinforcement model. Trainers use physical abuse, including beatings, and instruments include electric prods, whips, and chains. Many “tricks,” such as headstands and hind-leg stands, require animals to engage in repeated, unnatural maneuvers that place great stress on their muscles and joints and can result in crippling long-term injuries. Young elephants undergo a specific type of training method known as “the crush.” They may be separated from their mothers, isolated, deprived of food and water, and beaten. The most sensitive parts of their body, such as behind the ears where their skin is paper thin and crowded with nerve endings, are targeted with a fireplace poker-type implement called a bullhook. Even seemingly harmless activities, like posing with an elephant for a photo, cannot happen without “crush” training.
Following are examples of documented circus animal abuse:
- Caught on video, a baby elephant named Mickey was seen being beaten during a performance in Oregon in 1994. The 15-month-old elephant collapsed, screaming and bleeding as his trainer repeatedly struck him with a bullhook for failing to perform a trick. One spectator stated, “I have never heard a scream in my life like the scream that came out of that baby elephant.” The trainer pulled the elephant out of the tent and, “got it down on the ground again. It was screaming and trying to crawl away on its hands and knees like a human being.”
- In 2011, a trainer with Carson & Barnes was videotaped abusing an elephant in Lanesboro, Massachusetts; two weeks later the circus was cited by the USDA for using a bullhook with excessive force at a show in Connecticut.
- In 2012, the USDA issued a warning against Franzen Bros. Circus for striking an elephant with a bullhook multiple times. This incident occurred about three months after Franzen performed for the Melha Shrine Circus in Massachusetts.
- In April 2013, a whistleblower at Garden Bros. Circus, which was denied a license in 2019 to perform in Walpole, Massachusetts (read the Wicked Local article), reported that they had never seen the animals receive veterinary care, including a sheep who suffered from an untreated broken leg for at least two weeks.
- Later that same year, the general manager of Garden Bros. Circus was observed beating an elephant with a shovel.
Extreme Confinement and Deprivation
Exotic circus animals are often transported in poorly ventilated, cramped trailers for up to 50 weeks a year. Elephants may be chained or confined to small pens, restricting movement to a step forward or backward. Immobilized for prolonged periods and forced to stand in their own urine and excrement, they commonly suffer degenerative joint disease and foot disorders, the leading causes of euthanasia in captive elephants. Bears, primates, and big cats may also eat, drink, sleep, defecate, and urinate in cramped cages. They are deprived of timely and appropriate veterinary care and have few opportunities to express natural behaviors. Animals often exhibit signs of severe and chronic stress, manifested in stereotypic behaviors and self-injury.
A Danger to Public Safety and Public Health
Exotic circus animals are dangerous and unpredictable, endangering public health and safety. Hundreds of spectators have been injured by exotic circus animals, so much so that in 2022, President Biden signed the Big Cat Public Safety Act, prohibiting circuses from allowing direct contact between big cats and the public. Following is a sample of dangerous incidents that have taken place in Massachusetts or involve acts that have toured, and may continue to tour, in the Commonwealth.
- 2024 – Butte, Montana: An elephant—owned by Carson & Barnes, frequent suppliers to elephant shows in MA—escaped her enclosure and roamed the city streets for 10 minutes until her handlers finally managed to corral her.
- 2017 – Brockton, MA: A capuchin monkey at the Brockton Fair bit an 18-year-old girl while feeding the animal apples. The victim’s friend drove her to the emergency room for treatment.
- 2017 – Saratoga County, NY: A month after performing in Brockton, A Grizzly Experience show at a county fair was abruptly canceled after a bear mauled a handler’s face during an exhibition.
- 2017 – Baraboo, WI: A Carson & Barnes elephant at Baraboo’s Circus World Museum escaped from the grounds and wandered into a residential area after another elephant opened the door of its enclosure.
- 2014 – St. Louis, MO: Three Carson & Barnes elephants escaped from handlers during a show, pushed through a door, and ran into the parking lot, where they caused property damage and suffered injuries.
- 2006 – Marlborough, MA: An elephant attacked and injured two Commerford Petting Zoo employees while giving rides at a fair.
Circus animals also expose the public to transmissible zoonotic diseases, including rabies and tuberculosis, a zoonotic disease that can spread through the air, which puts anyone near an infected animal—elephant or human—at risk of contracting the disease. Tuberculosis carried by elephants once used in the circus was linked by the CDC to an outbreak affecting 13 people in Tennessee, only one of whom had had direct contact with infected animals. Similarly, according to the CDC, in 2013, eight employees at the Oregon Zoo became infected after contact with an infected elephant.
What about economic impacts?
Animal-free shows have shown to be commercially successful. In 2023, Ringling Brothers returned to operation with a reimagined animal-free show. In Massachusetts, we can see specific examples of public support for animal-free shows in consumer spending. The Big E Fair in West Springfield—which has not hosted an elephant since Beulah the elephant collapsed and died at the Fair in 2019—has nonetheless broken at least nine attendance records since then. Similarly, Topsfield’s first elephant-free fair in 2019 saw a 20% increase in pre-ticket sales compared to the previous year. And in Wilmington, after exotic animal acts were banned in 2020, the Shriners Circus has successfully shifted to an animal-free show.
