Do you like going to the zoo, aquarium, circus, or receiving horse or carriage rides in Manhattan? Do you enjoy doing activities that requires an animal to benefit yourself? If so, you might want to keep reading.
Warning: This article may contain images too graphic for readers.
I’ll be the first to admit yes, I love the circus and going to the zoo. When I am at SeaWorld, I enjoy watching the orca show. When I was younger, watching the animals do really cool tricks was the norm for what they had to do. I was oblivious to the mistreatment of the animals in the entertainment industry. In October 2017, I went to Medieval Times in New Jersey for my birthday. I can guarantee you, my reaction was the complete opposite of what it was when I was four years old. I sat there in absolute disgust watching the horses stand on their heel, performing different tricks. Riding the horses during the show is one thing but having them do tricks while hitting them with a whip is another. I was crying for them. It looked so unnatural and they looked like they were in pain.
Humans like to feel powerful. History has proven the way we do that is to conquer and put a “label” on the status of something. Therefore, animals fall under us. They are considered less intelligent than us. However, recent studies have shown animals are quite intelligent and could have the potential to be smarter than us. Animals, in general, were not put on Earth for us to treat them as our property. The picture below shows the smuggling of a yellow-breasted cockatoo into the USA. Since it is illegal to smuggle these animals, the parrot was forced into a bottle just to be forced into more mistreatment in the entertainment industry.
The removal of animals from their natural habitat and forcing them to be in the entertainment industry has shown to be very traumatizing to these animals. Animals are in a cage and often times in isolation. The only time they would be outside is to perform in front of an audience.
In India, wild sloth bears are taken from their natural habitat in the wild, painfully pierced through their muzzle and forced to dance against their will This has been a common practice for over four hundred years. In the USA, SeaWorld orcas are forced to learn tricks to put on a show. Ignoring the fact these orcas sunburn from being in the sun all day, the park managers rub black zinc oxide to cover up the scars from the sun.
(Sloth bear in India pierced through the muzzle)
There is a lot we can actually do. For example, after much debate, SeaWorld Orlando has agreed to stop the breeding of their orcas. We, as a society, could also be cautious and more aware of our surroundings and what we can do to make the Earth better. Some animals may take a long time to recover from a population decline such as the Orangutans since it takes between three to five years to breed one infant. Instead of trying to live superior to animals, we should try to live in harmony.
(Burns of an orca)
How many times is it going to take for us to see an animal getting mistreated, only to ignore it and carry on with our lives? If we were talking about a person’s life, don’t you think there would be stronger initiatives to make it stop?
Animal cruelty is all around us whether we notice it or not. Indian sloth bears, orcas, orangutans, and the cockatoo are all used for our own selfish reasons, and their suffering is visible, yet we choose to ignore it. If you would like to help in the fight to end animal cruelty feel free to click here.