Bolivia has enacted what animal rights activists are calling the world’s first ban on all animals in circuses.
Pakistan should do the same.
A handful of other countries have banned the use of wild animals in circuses, but the Bolivian ban includes domestic animals as well.
The law states that the use of animals in circuses “constitutes an act of cruelty”. It sets fines for infractions and allows for animals to be confiscated by authorities.
The law was proposed after an undercover investigation by the nonprofit-making London-based group Animal Defenders International found widespread abuse in circuses operating in Bolivia.
Authorities aim to stop circus operators from killing animals they can no longer use.
The fate of animals in circuses in Pakistan is probably worst. They are given disturbing mistreatment. Poorly paid and badly trained workers routinely abuse animals. If they want an animal to move, their immediate reaction is a kick or a punch or a shove.
Circus animals suffer everywhere from living in tight quarters and being constantly transported. It’s rather as if one is asked to spend the rest of her life in a bathroom.
The quality of food is deplorable, and almost all animals are malnourished. Hardly any animal is regularly given water, despite the long summer, that these unfortunate animals have to endure 24 hours a day in small cages, or tied to a short rope.
Snatched from her mother as a baby, this elephant will endure a lifetime of pain and suffering.
She’s beaten with bamboo sticks studded with nails. Starved and deprived of sleep for up to a week at a time. She’s tortured like this to crush her spirit and make her submit to carrying people on her back.
Her suffering continues for the rest of her life. She’ll be chained up, deprived of social interaction and forced to entertain tourists for 9 hours a day, 7 days a week. If she refuses to “perform” out of fear or stress, she will be punished into submission.
This intelligent animal will be in pain and distress for the next 50 years.
It’s cruelty she’ll never forget. And she’s not alone. She’s one of over 16,000 captive Asian elephants around the world living in misery in tourist rides, zoos and circus shows help save this elephant and other animals around the world from cruelty.