Annotated Bibliography

University of Texas at El Paso

Professor Gomez
Andrea Rico

Born to be Free. (2013). A lifetime Misery. Sacramento, CA: Harlington

In the article A life time of Misery, the author talks about the inhuman training the
animals go through and health problems that come with it. We the public do not know how
animals are trained. We watch them do handstands, ride bikes, stand on two feet but we have no
knowledge on how unnatural it is. Circuses usually own bullhooks to poke, shock and hit
animals as training. Many circus elephants have tuberculosis that can affect humans with
bacterial diseases. This article really helped me analyze why we should stop animal circuses all
over the world.
Center for Elephant Conservation. (2010). Ringling Bros and Barman and Bailey Center for
Elephant Conservation.
As I read and analyzed the article on Center for Elephant Conservation it gave me hope
that maybe there is a place out there where all the circus animals are taken care of. The Center
for Elephant Conservation (CEC) is a place created to take all the circus animals once they are
done with the shows. Comfort and safety are really important for those member who work there.
The article explains faculty and staff make sure the animals have the proper care needed.
Feld Entertainment Information Center. (2012). Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus
Settlement. Vienna, VA: Feld
Feld Entertainment Inc. says circuses, like the Ringling Bros and Bailey Circuses tell the
audiences that they have traveled all over North America in less than a year. Imagine the time
animals have to spend locked up, all crammed up in small cages. Elephants are kept in shackles
that allow them to take no more than one step. Ringling Bros documents exposed that elephants
are chained for more than 26 hours straight and can even be chained up 60- 100 hours. Tigers

and lions travel in cages they cant even turn around in and sometimes even two cats are
crammed in one small cage. This detailed article
Kindness and Care for Animals. (2011). Circus Animal Welfare. Boston, MA: Shayle
The Animal Welfare Act is a legal protection for all circus animals that require minimum
standards of care and treatment. However circus still violate these requirements and
unfortunately they will continue to perform and not follow these requirements until laws and
regulations become stronger. Because there is so much abuse involved in circuses towards
animals, animals respond aggressively, hurting everyone around them. This helped me
understand why us, people, need to stand up for the animals and request for better care.
People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. (2013). Circuses. Norfolk, VA: Charles
People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reveal that first, trainers remove big
teeth and claws of the animals. The trainers say that bullhooks, whips, electrical shock rods, bats,
metal rods and other harmful tools are used to teach them their acts. Some eve drug the animals
to make them more manageable. Bears are burned. Elephants are locked up and chained. In order
for these animals to do tricks such as standing on two legs, they are chained with their two front
legs up high for hours. Elephants nurse their babies until five years of age. However, animal
trainers remove their babies as soon as they are born and begin the cruel training. They are
chained for 23 hours to break their spirit and show them that their only leaders are the trainers.
They are smashed to the ground as they scream and cry in great pain. As I read the article it
added more information to my problem, giving more reasons why animal circuses should be
banned.

People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. (2013). Three-Ring Abuse. Norfolk, VA: Azari
Aside from being confused and in pain while learning their tricks, they get severely punished if
they do not do them right in the show as they perform. Elephant Keeper, Tom Rider, testified in
court that physical punishment has always been the standard method for training. He also
mentions that an elephant in the circus he worked in was forced to lie down and was beaten by
five trainers with bullhooks because he didnt perform right in the show. (Jaynes, 2013, para.9)
Animal trainer, Archelle Hundley shared that Ringling Bros Circus believe that if they can keep
the animals afraid, they can keep them submissive.(Hundley, 2007) Video tapes caught from
PETA investigators reveal big cats are dragged by heavy chains around their necks and hit with
sticks, bears are whacked with long poles, and chimpanzees are kicked.
Sahagun, L. (2001, October 11). Elephants Pose Greater Danger. Los Angeles Times.
Circus animals are primates. Primates are animals who live in a large communities and
are tightly bonded together like a family. They travel together daily for miles. They are extremely
caring, intelligent and social creatures. When they get separated from their families, and start
getting abused daily for long periods of times they fall into depression and start getting
aggressive. In the past years elephants or other circus animals have escaped their cages, harming
their trainers, handlers and the public this is because they are full of fear to all human interaction
making them dangerous to everyone.