Friday, March 15, 2024 | 2 a.m.
It seems everywhere you look in Las Vegas, there’s a resort featuring a Cirque du Soleil show. This wildly popular modern-day circus dazzles audiences with its skilled human performers and not a single animal act. Yet, outdated, inhumane animal-based shows still tour in the state, such as Jordan World Circus, scheduled to perform this month in two Nevada cities.
Along with beleaguered animals, the circus will bring trainers with the painful tools of their trade, such as muzzles, bullhooks, chains, whips, sticks, electric prods and other pain-inducing devices commonly used to bully wild animals into performing confusing and difficult tricks. It’s clear they only perform because they’re afraid not to, and the tricks, such as walking, standing or hopping upright on their hind legs, can cause animals to develop physical disorders such as premature arthritis.
Audiences today would much rather see an elephant in the wild, being an elephant, rather than cast as a clumsy clown performing under threat of punishment. The change in public attitudes against the mistreatment of wild animals for entertainment explains why eight states and nearly 200 localities in 37 states have passed restrictions prohibiting the use of wild animals in circuses and traveling shows. The seismic shift in opinion is most evident in the animal-free version of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that is garnering rave reviews across the country.
It’s not just the training that is cruel. For wild animals, life with a traveling show means being subjected to prolonged confinement in cramped transport cages and trailers. Deprived of the ability to express natural behaviors, they commonly exhibit signs of stress and neurotic actions like pacing, bar-biting or excessive licking.
In 2023, Washoe County Regional Animal Services issued a notice of violation to Jordan World Circus for allowing elephant rides in violation of state law that prohibits public contact with elephants and other dangerous wild animals. Jordan leases elephants from Carson & Barnes Circus, which has been repeatedly cited and fined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for Animal Welfare Act violations.
The citations issued to Carson & Barnes include using a bullhook with “excessive force” on an elephant, failure to provide veterinary care to numerous animals, including a thin elephant who had been losing weight for almost two years; failure to safely handle and supervise elephants in the presence of the public, including during rides; and failure to maintain control of elephants, resulting in at least two instances of elephants bolting from handlers. In 2016, the USDA assessed Carson & Barnes Circus a civil penalty of $16,000 for multiple charges of failure to safely handle elephants.
Using stressed and unpredictable wild animals, some weighing as much as 8,000 pounds, in shows also poses a risk to public safety and first responders. Look no further than Las Vegas’ most famous magicians, Siegfried and Roy, to appreciate how dangerous big cats are.
There have been two tragic instances, one in Florida and one in Hawaii, in which elephants from circuses were gunned down by law enforcement officials during rampages that left people dead and injured. Bears, primates and even camels used in circuses have injured people.
With all that is now known about the rich and varied lives that elephants and other wild animals naturally lead, it’s apparent that life in traveling shows is nothing but misery for them.
Taking account of the violent training, constant confinement, neglect and public safety risks involved, there’s no good reason to attend circuses that force animals to perform. We urge Nevadans to skip shows that still use captive animals and spend their entertainment budget on miniature golf, museums, a ball game, a movie or one of the many other options available in Las Vegas.
Rebecca Goff is the Nevada state director of the Humane Society of the United States.
