OPINION - Don't Go to the Circus, by Jordan Wortham

 Please enjoy this opinion article from DMHS's "Introduction to Journalism" class!

Tigers, Elephants, bears and other circus animals do not leap through holes, balance on their heads, or ride bikes because they want to. They have to be taught and teaching wild animals can be difficult. They do these and other tough techniques out of fear of what will happen if they don't. All around the world, circuses do not care about their animals. They care about entertaining their audience and what they can do with their animals. They torture their animals if they don’t do things right after a certain amount of times. 

People around the world abuse animals and don't take care of their animals. Some may but a lot of them don't. Since 1990 animals in the circus have died at the rate of four per year (in the US as a whole) and so about 1.3% across the US of animals die in the circus. Most of them are from old age and others are euthanized for attacking people. There is video evidence of animals in circuses being beaten, shocked, kicked, or cruelly confined so people can train them to be obedient and do tricks. According to the website Treehugger, “With elephants, the abuse begins when they are babies to break their spirits. All four of the baby elephant's legs are chained or tied for up to 23 hours per day.”

Circus animals can travel thousands of kilometers every year in horrible weather conditions. Long distances are frequently traveled by circus animals. In Indonesian circuses, dolphins are carried by trucks and airplanes, which is clearly not ideal for this species. So instead of leaving them in the wild or sea where they are familiar, they drive and fly thousands of miles away from home. On top of that, circuses take their animals from their families for human entertainment. 

I think that circuses are not good at all because of how they treat their animals. Places like the Seaworld don't take care of their animals. All they care about is how well the animals perform and how much money you can make off of them. Next time you think about going to the circus with your children, think again and go somewhere else where the animals are more taken care of. 

Jordan Wortham is a 9th grader at DMHS. He loves art.