Cirus man died

Cirus man died
27-12-2007

This afternoon, an elephant handler was killed in austrlia. A 60 or so yr old man was found dead in the star dust circus eklephant pen, unknown whetehr death by ele or suspected heart attack. More news to hand , check google news.

28-12-2007

A circus with animals is an abomination, and every once and a while it is comforting to hear of a performing mammal getting revenge on its trainer. That might sound brutal, but years of abuse in tiny confinement is worse than a swift kick from an elephant.

28-12-2007

Here is a quick thought about zoos and cirkuses:

A zoo has to spend millions of $ in order to "elephantproof" their elephant enclosures, with reinforced steel and such. This is only fair, to prevent accidents. Beside that fact, there are tons of rules and guidelines on how to keep elephants.

A cirkus has almost no guidelines or rules. I have witnessed the place where a cirkus elephant escaped in Denmark in June. The only thing containing the elephants when they where not parading through town, promoting the cirkus, was a piece of string. A piece of string!? It was so thin I could hardly even see it! Where are the rules and guidelines there?

Beside that, it's cruel to keep animals like elephants and sea lions in a cirkus, with no possibility of doing any natural behavior at all!

__________________
I am Toddy, the zoo-enthusiast from Denmark!
Different zoos visited: 77
Favourite animals: Aardvarks and manatees.
Website: www.zoos.dk

28-12-2007

change your quote a little bit so that a few words are changed. Replace the word circus with the word zoo and swap elephant for tiger and would you still feel the same. I think the usual whingers will use these two recent incidents as ammunition to attack both zoos and circuses. I personally think the days of animals in circuses are numbered and i think thats great.

28-12-2007

It depends on the animal species and the individual circus. I personally don't have a problem with domestic animals shown in zoos (and could think of a workaholic Border Collie or two that would love performing in a circus as often as possible) and I wouldn't generalise/demonise all circusses.
If many believe that the future of the circus (if it has any future at all) is a circus without animals, OK (shrugs); although I doubt that complete animal-less circuses will have the attraction they had (at least for me when I was a small boy) if they have all become Cirque du Soleil look-alikes / imitations.
And I'm wondering whom the zoos will then give their surplus animals to...

28-12-2007

Boof: Most likely 95% of the people here at ZooBeat believe that circuses with exotic animals are horrible and should not be in existence. I was only pointing out that fact and nothing more.

28-12-2007

Not just since Michael Moore, I'm suspicious when it comes to percentage statements of the opinion of people given out as "facts"...
If the majority of the public feels no longer comfortable with the sight of exotic animals in a circus (I'm not always too comfortable with that, too), then after banning exotic animals from circuses said public should also take care where to accommodate said exotics (I can already see the zoos saying "Sorry, we're full") properly-and to pay apt compensation to the circus folks-because after all, it was the sensationalism of our ancestors and us that brought the exotic animals into the circuses.

What's "Boof" referring to?

29-12-2007

it was at startdust - arna and gigi.

29-12-2007

snow leopard says that it is comforting to hear that an animal has got revenge by killing a person that has confined it. I was wondering if he had the same feeling about the tiger at the zoo. Was that comforting?
I then mentioned that i don't like circuses that keep exotics. I guess if was confusing the way it was written.

29-12-2007

I heard that he had a heart attack and it may not have even been Elephant related...

29-12-2007

In the thread "San Francisco zoo tiger escape", Jaywa, referring to this elephant incident, says "It hasn't been decided what will happen to the elephant - but I think we all know." The inference, unless I misread it, is that the elephant will be euthanised.

That's not going to happen. An elephant, in this country at least, is so scarce, valuable and just plain unavailable that merely killing a human will not lead to its death. Abu (with Ashtons circus) lived a long life despite killing three people over a 17 year period.

29-12-2007

Boof: I believe that circuses with performing animals are appalling, especially when big cats live in tiny cages that barely allow enough room for them to turn around. Elephants are chained at times for 20 hours a day, and then are forced to do headstands and an assortment of other tricks. I've seen the lifestyles of circus mammals in videos and at actual circuses, and shudder to imagine myself in that type of situation. I had an instinctive reaction to praise the animal involved in the death, when in reality it was an extremely unfortunate accident.

As I've stated on here on the San Francisco tiger escape thread, I've actually visited the almost 70 year old lion/tiger house at the San Francisco Zoo and it is a horrible little enclosure. Some people view the tiger episode as sad for the big cat that was shot to death, some people feel pity for the zoo visitor that was killed, and still other people believe that being shot to death by the police is better than pacing back and forth all day long in a terrible exhibit until death. It is sometimes difficult to decide where to place ones empathy.

29-12-2007

@snowleopard: Some bits of Your comments here remind me of Jack London's "The Madness of John Harned". The anthropomorphisation of animals doesn't bear their true nature in mind and causes often more harm than good to them. And although Homo sapien's population of 6 billion might lead some people to the conclusion that a human life isn't worth much, in comparison to species with populations down to 10 or less, the contrary is true. Therefore, imho, scornfulness torwards our very own species and even satisfaction about an animal-attack related human fatality isn't appropriate (although I'm really pissed off that another zoo animal had to be shot due to human incompetence). And about the bit with the pacing animal being shot to stop the stereotypical behaviour: that often comes from members of the anti-zoo lobby who would prefer the extinction of a species to keeping them in human custody; an attitude I can't follow.

29-12-2007

i totally agree with you about circuses and animals like big cats and elephants, snow leopard. i just thought your other comments were a bit strong.

29-12-2007

after seeing these poor animals a couple of months ago i have to say i got a wry smile on my face. does that make me a sadist? but follow my train of thought....work cover closes the zoo-the two elephants are sent to WPZ or Australia Zoo or Mogo Zoo or Jarkaris Zoo or new zoo SA, i dont care. those animals werent being looked after properly, and i think i raised securty concerns on the relevent thread a few months ago.
of course the element of risk is increased when you are moving two 3 tonne animals in and out of a trailer once or twice a week.