In today’s society, a lot of entertainment is made at the expense of innocent animals. Many people are familiar with the documentary Blackfish. Throughout Blackfish, viewers are shown one particular orca whales story. Tilikum is an orca who was captured from the Pacific Ocean and used an entertainment exhibit at both Sealand and SeaWorld. Orca whales are used to swimming almost a hundred miles a day in the open ocean, but in captivity, cannot swim anywhere close to that amount. Tilikum was kept in a tank that was much too small for him and had barely enough room to swim around. Food was withheld from him to train him to perform certain tricks that an audience would enjoy. Day after day Tilikum would be subjected to perform shows and learn new tricks with the only reward every being dead fish (Blackfish 2013).
Tilikum’s story is only one of the many stories about animals that are being held in captivity and trained to be an act in a show or kept as an exhibit. Animals that are in captivity at zoos are made to live in a makeshift habitat that is supposed to symbolize their natural habitat, but rarely does. The animals are gawked at day after day with little to no privacy. The article “Animals Are Not Ours For Entertainment” points out that, “The only thing zoos teach people is that it is acceptable to control every aspect of an animal’s life” (PETA).
As a kid, I grew up loving animal entertainment parks. I thought the animals had the best life they could have, by constantly being checked for health problems, never running out of food, and having a keeper that loved them. It wasn’t until I got a little bit older that I realized what these entertainment parks were actually like and what they were doing to the animals.
Circuses are a form of animal entertainment that uses cruelty to make the animals perform in the way that the owners want them too.
"Trainers routinely beat and whip animals in order to make them repeatedly perform tricks that make no sense to them. Trainers have been known to use electric prods or even blowtorches on these animals. The most "difficult" animals are drugged, and their teeth and claws are sometimes removed to make the animals easier to handle" (PETA). These animals are forced to do tricks that are not in their nature. They are taken from their natural habitat and kept in metal cages that restrict them from their daily activity. Animals also usually don’t receive the proper medical care that they need resulting in a lot of sickness and death (PETA).
Many animals are also being forced to fight each other until a death occurs. The case involving Michael Vick, a professional NFL quarterback, is only one case out of thousands that involve animals being forced to fight. Vick used pit bulls and made them fight against each other in a dogfighting ring. He was later indicted with dogfighting charges (Huffington post). Some of these animals that are being forced to fight are horses, dogs, and roosters. The nature of these animals are not to fight and kill another animal, but they are being put into these situations where the only way to be done fighting is to either win or die, turning them into extremely aggressive animals (PETA).
The use of animals in movies is an overlooked form of animal cruelty. As people can see through the movie, the animal looks to be very well trained and treated. What actually goes on off the screen is frightening. In an undercover study done, a primatologist observed “trainers kick and punch the animals to make them be obedient” (PETA). Movies only show the positive role an animal has in that movie, rather than what is being done to make the animal perform a perfect role.
Zoos, marine parks, circuses, fighting rings, and movies are all very different from each other in respect to their setting. Animal cruelty however, is very similar in each of these uses of entertainment. In some form or another, the animal is being treated with disrespect, or rather, not being treated at all, to force them to perform in a specific way for an audience. The animals are gawked at by people and might even have their habitat disturbed by people as well. They also are all either taken from their home or have never gotten the chance to live in their natural habitat. Few people realize though how the abuse of animals in this context represents a broader cultural problem such as scientific research.
Tilikum’s story is only one of the many stories about animals that are being held in captivity and trained to be an act in a show or kept as an exhibit. Animals that are in captivity at zoos are made to live in a makeshift habitat that is supposed to symbolize their natural habitat, but rarely does. The animals are gawked at day after day with little to no privacy. The article “Animals Are Not Ours For Entertainment” points out that, “The only thing zoos teach people is that it is acceptable to control every aspect of an animal’s life” (PETA).
As a kid, I grew up loving animal entertainment parks. I thought the animals had the best life they could have, by constantly being checked for health problems, never running out of food, and having a keeper that loved them. It wasn’t until I got a little bit older that I realized what these entertainment parks were actually like and what they were doing to the animals.
Circuses are a form of animal entertainment that uses cruelty to make the animals perform in the way that the owners want them too.
"Trainers routinely beat and whip animals in order to make them repeatedly perform tricks that make no sense to them. Trainers have been known to use electric prods or even blowtorches on these animals. The most "difficult" animals are drugged, and their teeth and claws are sometimes removed to make the animals easier to handle" (PETA). These animals are forced to do tricks that are not in their nature. They are taken from their natural habitat and kept in metal cages that restrict them from their daily activity. Animals also usually don’t receive the proper medical care that they need resulting in a lot of sickness and death (PETA).
Many animals are also being forced to fight each other until a death occurs. The case involving Michael Vick, a professional NFL quarterback, is only one case out of thousands that involve animals being forced to fight. Vick used pit bulls and made them fight against each other in a dogfighting ring. He was later indicted with dogfighting charges (Huffington post). Some of these animals that are being forced to fight are horses, dogs, and roosters. The nature of these animals are not to fight and kill another animal, but they are being put into these situations where the only way to be done fighting is to either win or die, turning them into extremely aggressive animals (PETA).
The use of animals in movies is an overlooked form of animal cruelty. As people can see through the movie, the animal looks to be very well trained and treated. What actually goes on off the screen is frightening. In an undercover study done, a primatologist observed “trainers kick and punch the animals to make them be obedient” (PETA). Movies only show the positive role an animal has in that movie, rather than what is being done to make the animal perform a perfect role.
Zoos, marine parks, circuses, fighting rings, and movies are all very different from each other in respect to their setting. Animal cruelty however, is very similar in each of these uses of entertainment. In some form or another, the animal is being treated with disrespect, or rather, not being treated at all, to force them to perform in a specific way for an audience. The animals are gawked at by people and might even have their habitat disturbed by people as well. They also are all either taken from their home or have never gotten the chance to live in their natural habitat. Few people realize though how the abuse of animals in this context represents a broader cultural problem such as scientific research.