COMMENTARY | Having been to a circus before, keeping the animals confined before and after the show isn’t any worse than people confining their horses, cows, sheep, rabbits, pigs, llamas, alpacas, and chickens during fair season. Traveling with any of these animals, there is always some kind of confinement and conditions no one wants to do or see, but it needs to happen for the safety of the animals and their handlers.
Having seen how the animals are kept in the holding area of the circus, their living conditions are no different from the animals at a zoo when their outside areas are being cleaned or fixed. These large animal living and travel conditions are no worse than cattle being held for transport or even being transported.
Also, the animals seen at fairs for shows do not have any better living conditions while being on the road during livestock shows and fairs around the U.S. I have been to enough fairs and livestock shows to see and compare these conditions.
Banning exotic animals for circus acts should be kept out of House of Representatives and Democratic control. With the state the economy is in now, the bill Democrats want to bar animals from Asia, Africa, and other countries from being in a circus act while acts in Las Vegas and zoos still have free reign to transport animals as before. Where’s the justice in that?
As for the USDA fining Ringling Brothers Circus over alleged mistreatment of the animals, what happened to making sure you have evidence in animal abuse cases before fining companies? Since the USDA can’t keep tabs on salmonella outbreaks in foods and diseases and tainting of meat sources being bought and sold for consumption, should they be keeping tabs on wildlife? Isn’t that what the Fish and Game department is for?
Does the House of Representatives not realize banning such animals for entertainment purposes, they would have to ban them from zoos, acts in Vegas, and on television shows? If the Democrats wants to put a bill in place for the greater good, consider a bill that limits your own spending, amount any politician can earn, keeping jobs in the country, and stop forcing their agendas onto things they shouldn’t be touching.