Regarding the editorial letter about the Jaycees
sponsored Circus and the mailbox with tickets,
4-28-04.
The Jaycee's should ask themselves how far they
will go to fund raise for their group. As in all things,
there are two sides to the picture and as benign
as entertaining with wild animals
looks, curious minds should be looking for the
rest of the picture. Look at what would appear
to be the every day mundane life of circus animals.
When you realize that they spend day after day
traveling in dark, poorly ventilated semi trailers,
criss crossing the US to perform tricks for people,
only to be walked back to their confinement and
another road trip, it should trigger concerns immediately.
Most Americans would be appalled to think someone
kept their dog or cat in a closet for 75% percent of it's
life, only to come out and do tricks for an hour and then head
back to the closet. This confinement breeds insanity for elephants
[which walk up to 40 miles a day in the wild] and all of the
other wild animals we think are "so neat" to see docile.
The mental anguish they suffer, not to even mention the
physical stress and pain endured during training is far
too large of a price to pay. It's time for
circus sponsors to acknowledge the whole price of the
game they play and get out of the animal abuse business.