He says “Zoo animals rarely come from the wild”– not true.
There are many wild animals that are injured and turned into zoos for care and the animal stays there due to the injury. The bald eagle at ZooBoise is one example.
Some elephants come to zoos from the wild because they are orphaned when African “officials” killed the adults to cull the herd. Both the African elephants at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee were BORN in the wild- that’s in AFRICA, TJ. The Asian elephants were also born in the wild and either came to the ES directly from a circus/private owner of via a zoo.

The whole California Condor recovery was based on TAKING the remaining WILD birds from the wild and protect them in a zoo.
Point is- inaccurate statements make the whole “campaign” inaccurate.

TJ says “Zoos are heavily regulated and held to mandated standards”.
Yes, by the same people regulating and making the standards for the circus. There are zoos closed down due to unsuitable conditions. That shows the enforcement- it also proves zoos deteriorate to that condition- just like exotic animal trainers/owners. Wow, zoos and a circus sound VERY similar for the animals care!

TJ wants to “view exotic animals in a zoo, sanctuary, or in the wild.”

Well, most children in Boise can’t afford to go on an African safari; so that’s not reasonable. Going to Texas on a big game reserve hunt is also too expensive.

So a Sanctuary?
The Elephant Sanctuary in TN doesn’t allow the public to visit the elephants.
The National Elephant Center in Florida, doesn’t allow visitors.
PAWS in California has “field trips” available for $250 per person. $800 for a two-dayer.

The PAWS facility is just a big zoo – with limited hours and expensive admission. Imagine Eagle Island State Park having elephants and charging $250 for a tour of the pasture with 6 elephants. Makes me think of Jurassic Park.
Riddles’ Elephant Sanctuary in Arkansas has weekend field trips for $700 (over age 18 only, sorry kids). …Pretty much the same – pastures for pachyderms. Cow or elephants? The only difference is the height of the fence.

Google map (the internet) has the truth about these place. These places can be seen from the sky- pretty easy to see the fences.

There are a couple schools near the PAWS zoo, I mean sanctuary. I bet they would be real anxious if the big cats escaped. Oh that won’t happen in an earthquake (nearest city is San Andreas California)… see “zoo animals loose after flood in Tblisi”.

In reality many real zoos are bigger and more suitable than these ‘unknown’ sanctuaries. NC Zoo for 1 example.

Sanctuaries (and zoos and circus trainers) are starving for funds. Lack of resources is the exact problem that leads to inadequate animal care.

So TJ’s soon to be first child will be stuck with only a zoo to see an elephant. Well, maybe TJ can afford $400/day zoo visit.

Remember when the Copenhagen Zoo killed a healthy giraffe in front of visitors, dissected the giraffe and then fed it to the big cats? And then killed a family of 4 lions, right after the giraffe expose. that was 2014.

Welcome to the Zoo!

http://www.lcanimal.org/index.php/campaigns/elephants/about-sanctuaries

PAWS in California is 100 acres, and already has a plentiful herd. How do you think they will handle a sudden influx of expelled circus (& zoo) elephants?

The ES in TN has a 2700 acres fenced area. Apparently it has 2 African elephants for its African pen so I suppose it can handle a few more. It has quite a few Asians in their large Asian pen.
It is cool that you can actually see an elephant (or three) in the Google images. Although they are not together in a happy herd so it’s kinda like looking for an elephant in haystack… Ha! And ES has webcams- I just checked it out and ONE elephant was posing for a few minutes and then walked off. I think that elephant was named “Lonesome Lucy”. When TJ

Donations?
PAWS 2014 ‘regular donations’ were less than their expenses. In 2013, they lost money. In 2014, had it not been for 1-time bequests they would have lost money.
The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, had decreased revenue in 2013 from 2012. (2014 info not available online yet)

Suzi, those “plenty of people willing to donate” better step up their game and their checkbooks if you get your way. That will be a LOT of hay.
The Director of ES gets about $100K a year, so maybe if you really like elephants that could be a worthwhile job.

EDITOR NOTE–an unintelligible sentence was edited out of this comment.

Oh, oh, wait, we have that now and call them circuses.

I fully support sanctuaries, but they are very classist. Poor, city kids will never get to see them, and they have limited entertainment value.

The city zoo, county rodeo, and traveling circus are tremendous opportunities for kids to gain exposure to the animal world, and they are indelibly etched into our culture and traditions.

Imagine PETA gets their way and all animals are excluded from the circus (and zoos, and entertainment).

Animal owners then end up having to pay enormous care expenses for these animals without any (less) revenue sources.

Guess what happens then?
Many of the animals will likely be euthanized.
So a dead elephant is better than a circus elephant apparently?

Unintended consequences of misguided activism. Happens all the time.

That’s funny Ruth!

Guardian, Ruth’s comment was the ++circus money++ does not go to the hospitals. That’s understandable. But publicity for the Shiners from the Shriners Circus certainly helps with publicity and exposure to the name… it is just like advertising.

I have a hard time grasping that people truly believe that there isn’t cruelty involved when forcing elephants to say, stand on their heads, or tigers to jump through hoops of fire. Do they honestly believe that these animals will do such unnatural acts simply for a treat, or to ‘please their handlers’?! They are not domesticated dogs, they are wild animals. I’m really blown away at the misguidance of people believing that these animals do this without being forced. The truth is on the internet. There isn’t any grey area here. It is out and out slavery and it’s barbaric. (I would love to see videos of positive reinforcement training of these wild animals. Please share any that you have).

Also, know that elephants do not ‘dance’. The swaying they exhibit is a stereotypic behavior due to stress, frustration and desolation. (If you have video of elephants exhibiting this behavior in the wild, {not a Thailand Sanctuary or the like, but in the wild}. I would love to see them).

And let’s put cruelty and oppression of these animals aside for a minute. (Not that it should ever be).

There are 2 other issues here at play. One being that some elephants have tested positive for the human strain of TB. One of the reasons why Ringling’s is phasing all it’s elephants out by 2018.

The other is that you are putting your family at risk every time you attend, as at any given moment, these animals, do, and have, snapped. On the second part of 1st video I posted there was a Mom and 4 children on the elephants back when (s)he went a rampage. They were okay, the elephant shot and killed. (The video is of only 2 incidents, and there are hundreds)Many people have been killed when these animals, and understandably so, go berserk.

Just today 3 circus elephants went on a rampage in Denmark. Another incident that happened today, an extremely frightened elephant, in attempting to do an unnatural, and indignant, ‘trick’, fell off the ladder (s)he was forced to climb, landing on his/her back into the audience. It’s also posted below. These unnecessary incidents and deaths happen. More often than most know, or would like to believe, I’m sure. There will be more tragedies if someone doesn’t take a stand to end the unnecessary use of exotics in circuses.

I could attach many more links of circus animals injuring and killing people, but I would hope that realizing that it can/and does happen, would get people on board to stop this unnecessary and dangerous use of such beautiful and intelligent animals and at the very least to no longer attend. These animals so don’t belong in a circus. Please do some research folks and learn about what goes on behind the curtains and also how incredible these beings are to watch in the wild, where they belong. There are links on google where you can watch live video feed of just that.

And just an FYI. The monies collected from circus ticket sales, do not go to the Shriner’s Hospitals. (bottom link)

Excerpt from that link;
‘Every exhibitor of Shrine-leased animals has failed to meet minimal federal standards under the Animal Welfare Act for the care of animals used in the circus. However, the Shriners are able to avoid responsibility and scrutiny by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and local animal control because the Shriners do not own the animals used in their shows.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-38MDfzus5k

http://www.lcanimal.org/index.php/campaigns/animals-in-entertainment/circuses

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/591000/WATCH-Belarus-circus-elephant-fall-audience

http://www.bornfreeusa.org/facts.php?more=1&p=717