Those of us who watched the heart-wrenching movie “Dumbo” as kids know the perils suffered by circus animals at the hand of trainers and ringmasters.
If you’ve been to the circus, the fair or any kind of amusement park, you’ve more than likely been entertained by an animal doing tricks or giving rides. Growing up watching these performances has ingrained something within us to see the treatment of animals as secondary to our amusement.
A video recently went viral from The Big E fair in Springfield, Massachusetts showing a camel being forced to stand after it collapsed, as well as a photo of an elephant at the same fair limping while giving a ride. In response, over 111,000 people have signed an online petition to end wild animal acts at the fair.
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it has inspected The Big E four times and said they didn’t find evidence of felony animal cruelty in the camel’s case, nor did they see the elephant limping. However, in 2017, inspectors issued a violation to Tim Commerford, the owner of the animals, for failing to get veterinary foot care for one of the elephants.
Inspectors can’t trust that Commerford isn’t covering up health concerns his animals may be experiencing. With only three elephants on hand, putting one out of commission would be a monetary loss.
Our standards for the treatment of animals shouldn’t be based around felonies. Just because felony animal cruelty, as the MSPCA defines it, doesn’t encompass animals collapsing in pain or exhaustion, it doesn’t mean that what we see in the video isn’t a fundamentally inhumane way to treat creatures that have no voice of their own.
The Big E is the largest fair in the Northeast. The way they treat their animals sets an important precedent for smaller fairs, and if the MSPCA continues to excuse cases of mistreatment at The Big E, what’s to stop smaller businesses from getting away with the same behavior?
Individuals, as well, have a responsibility to invest their money in businesses they can stand by. It’s not enough to go to a fair that offers animal acts and to just go on the ferris wheel instead. Averting your eyes from elephants trudging in circles around a parking lot doesn’t change the fact that you paid for a ticket, and that money will go toward the continued operation of those performances.
Eugene Cassidy, the president of the Eastern States Exposition, which owns The Big E, wrote in an email to WBZ that the camel in the video was “young, somewhat lazy and stubborn.”
Regardless of whether the camel was injured or not, no animal should be exhausted or uncomfortable to the point where it has to act out in protest. The owners of these animals don’t appear to care about their welfare — they appear to care about making maximum profit. It’s up to the people who patronize these businesses to speak with their dollar, and to the state to enforce laws that prevent these situations from happening in the first place.
If people want to see elephants and camels, they can go to a zoo that helps combat wildlife extinction, provides education to its visitors and treats its animals well. Forcing an animal to walk in circles on hot pavement for hours is cruel and exploitative, and it serves no benefit to its species in the natural world.
The MSPCA is lobbying for a law to prevent the use of elephants in traveling animal acts, which is a step toward keeping animals out of the entertainment industry in the first place. Regulations on animal welfare aren’t enough when they aren’t enforced.
It shouldn’t have to be said, but animals are beings with emotions and the capacity to feel pain, and they depend on humans to care for their wellbeing. Treating them as less than such because of our own desire to have the novelty experience of sitting on an exotic animal’s back for five minutes is inexcusable.
It’s time for us to look at this practice now and realize once and for all that allowing animals in fairs and circuses is morally wrong. We must understand that the people who own entertainment animals don’t have their best interests at heart and step in where they lack humanity.
CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this editorial misquoted Cassidy as saying the camel in the video was “lazy and stubborn” when the correct quote, sent in an email to WBZ, stated that the camel was, “young, somewhat lazy and stubborn.” An updated version of this editorial reflects this correction.
I totally agree.
BRAVO! Very well written! Thank you for speaking on behalf of the voiceless!
Very well written and on point! I have been thinking that a boycott of the Big E would be more effective than just avoiding the animal acts. But how? Attendance numbers are larger than ever. Thank you for this. We need more such commentary to raise public awareness.
Thank you for your beautifully written, thoughtful piece. Excellent point that animal cruelty should not have to rise to the level of a felony to trigger involvement by the MSPCA. Isn’t there a lower level of animal cruelty, like a misdemeanor? Second, how would someone determine that an animal’s failure to obey a command is due to laziness or stubbornness as opposed to pain or exhaustion? I’ve lived with both cats and dogs whom I came to know very well, and yet neither I nor my veterinarian has been able to know for certain if they are in pain. My third point is this: animals’ behavior with one another is based on instincts, and when they are trained by humans, they respond according to a system of rewards (and unfortunately for some, punishment). If an animal refuses to respond to a command, then he has either been poorly trained or physically unable to obey. Descriptions like “lazy” or “stubborn” are no more traits of non-human animals than “greedy” or “spiteful.” These traits are solely within the realm of humans. The only point I disagree with you on is your support of zoos. I don’t agree that wild animals should be denied their freedom to live in their indigenous habitat among their own species in order to “educate” people. Also, the behavior we see in zoos is often neurotic stereotypy such as rocking or pacing, withdrawal/depression, and madness, and we see very little of the behavior they would exhibit in the wild. I also doubt there are any zoos with programs that actually introduce captive wild animals back to their indigenous habitat, as many have lost their natural survival instincts. Can you please name a single zoo that is actively introducing its captive wild animals back to their natural habitats? If not, then how does it help an endangered species if their only existence is in captivity?
The editors of this piece have quoted me. They have fabricated that quote. That’s a serious journalistic failure, it is slander at the very least. Had “the editors” contacted me, I would have gladly spoken to them. They did not. They printed a lie, the reader should know that, and knowing that the reader should be highly skeptical of the content of their piece.
Thanks for the editorial – it’s time to end these cruel and dangerous acts. Please support MA S490, sponsored by Sen. Tarr, to end wild animal circus acts in MA.
Thank you for this article! Animals are not for our entertainment or profit. They are sentient beings that suffer at the hands of humans. Elephants in particular suffer greatly. They are taken as babies from the wild and put through a process called the Crush. They are tortured for several days and denied food, water and sleep to break their spirit and submit to their human captors. Even elephants born in captivity must go through the breaking process to obey humans. I disagree with the article only on one point – zoos are not good places for animals. Most lack adequate space, especially for larger species like elephants. Many zoos house one lonely elephant and don’t provide an adequate diet. Remember, zoos are for profit institutions also.
Great editorial !!! Loved it… I have said this for yrs, animals abused and tortured at the expense of us is morally reprehensible . Those poor animals being ridden and walking back and forth to the point of exhaustion is just plain wrong. Is it only I that has witnessed this terrible life of GODS creatures? Apparently not and I must say it’s about time, people are noticing such abuse. The BIG E is a disgrace, the president of the BIG E also a disgrace for pretending to care for these animals, but in reality, he is only interested in his bottom line.
This is a wonderful article and it’s long overdue. A job well done !!!
Thanks for this great editorial. I not only refuse to go to the Big E because of their exploitation of animals, but I encourage all my friends to stay away and to protest… let the Big E know why you refuse to attend. Animals do not exist for our entertainment, education or any other reason.