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Emily Piazza
Dr. Sean M George
English 1010D.03
13 December 2015

Defending Those Who Cannot Speak

In the Buddhist religion they believe to treat animals with love and kindness.
They also avoid any harm, or killing of animals and respect them as living beings. Which
in my opinion is a good rule to live by. In this essay I will be arguing against animal
abuse and cruelty in zoos, circuses, rodeos, and animal fighting. And also uncovering
things that people may not know that goes on in these places.
Families everywhere love to go to zoos and circuses, but what they dont always
think about is how they treat the animals. Some zoos and circuses treat their animals
really well and give them the space and food that they need. However, some do not!
Some zoos do not provide what the animal needs, and also neglect the animals; and in
worse cases beat them. Animals have their own specific needs, space, climate, food, and
medical care. Sometimes it is hard to provide because they have so many different kinds
of animals that all require certain things. Thats why its important to have highly trained
professionals to do the job. A private investigator, who was know for his work in stopping
cruelty would go into zoos and circuses and sit in the crowd and secretly go behind the
scenes to make sure they were not abusing the animals. What they found was devastating!
Destined for execution. Smith the Lion had already been castrated, declawed, separated

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for his mate, and caged in a small cage unable to even turn around. The trainers beat him,
underfed him, and stripped him from everything that was natural to him by nature.(52)
In this same zoo they also found a mountain lion beaten unconscious with a baseball bat
but the owner because it wouldnt come out if its cage! This is awful and make me sick
that people can actually treat animals this way! Thanks to Tim Phillips, Vice President of
Animal Defenders International (ADI) has helped save thousands of animals from
situations like this. In addition to Smith the Lion, 32 lions and about 60 other animals
have been recovered from circuses in Peru and Colombia over the past year. Following
the bans on the use of animals in circuses in these countries as part of ADIs Operation
Sprit of Freedom. ADI and the Peruvian Government worked together to relocate these
animals. Although the rescued animals cannot be released back into the wild, they will
now live the rest of their lives under good care.
In my opinion it is really cool to get an up close look at these animals that you
dont see everyday. But I dont like the fact that they keep these wild, beautiful animals in
cages, especially when they do not provide the right care for them! From a personal
experience when I went to the San Diego zoo in California a lot of the animals seemed to
be well taken care of and have the space, food, and habitat they needed. When I got to
one of the sections of the zoo where the elephants where, I noticed off the side there was
a black panther. The panther was in a small cage inside a bigger cage exposed out in the
open with nothing to hide under. The big cat was pacing back and forth, panting when I
was cool outside. You could tell the animal was very in distress with all of the people
waking by the cage looking at him, and making loud noises. In the wild panthers are not
up and out during the day. They sleep most of the day and do the hunting later at night. It

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was not natural for the cat to be out and exposed at that time! The zookeepers put the cat
in the small cage with nothing to hide under to make it so the visitors can see him. They
put animals under all kinds of stress just to make money because that all they care about!
Another personal experience is when I went to the Washington County Fair in
Hurricane Utah. Last year they had big black bears in cages out in the direct sun the 108degree weather! They had a baby bear and the mom bear out there, but they had them in
separate cages when made for very stressed animals on top of already being out in
blistering hot out in the sun! They did this so the people could better see the baby bear.
The Mom bear was making distressed cries, as was the baby! It made very, very irritated
and it was very sad to watch! They also had two big elephants there, and there were lines
of people just waiting for their turn to jump on one, got for a ride, and get their picture
taken. I noticed the other elephant in the back and it was standing there swinging its
trunk, which means the animals was stressed. Rocking back and forth is an example of
how the elephants show the trauma they have been exposed to when they are beaten and
chained. This is an example of the type of abuse that Ringling Brothers is being accused
of by the Animal Welfare Institute and others in a lawsuit to begin in the US District
Court of the District of Columbia on October 27, 2008.(1). Its just sad to think that
innocent animals are getting put through all this abuse and touchier, just for peoples
entertainment, and to make money! These poor animals do not deserve this abuse!
My last thing I am going to discuss is animal fighting. People all over the world
do this whether it cockfighting, dogfighting, bullfighting, or making other animals fight
for peoples entertainment and it has to be stopped! Dogfighting for example is the one of
the most cruel and disgusting thing someone can do, and it takes a really demented

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person to do that for entertainment! Dogfighting is a blood "sport" where two dogs are
set against each other in a pit and forced to rip each other apart. (Hub Pages)
Dogfighting can be split into two categories: street dogfighting and organized
dogfighting. Less organized, though just as brutal, street dogfighting takes place on the
streets and in backyards, and can be triggered by things like insults and taunts. The rules
and traditions of dogfighting are often ignored and the dogfight lasts only a few minutes.
On the other hand, organized dogfighting is extremely secretive; people may go to one
location and then escorted to where the dogfight takes place so they don't know where it
will be beforehand. Via internet and mouth, word of dogfights are spread and take place
in locations like abandoned warehouses, fields, and empty houses, where it is easy to
evacuate quickly. Staffordshire bull terriers, American pit bull terriers, American
Staffordshire terriers, and American bulldogs are the most common dogs bred for
dogfighting. Since they're often interbred, they are frequently referred to as merely pit
bulls. They pick the most aggressive one from birth and start training it to be a fighter.
Training dogs are forced to tread water, hang onto chains with a piece of meat with their
jaws, and sometimes given steroids. In professional dogfighting, the dogs' nutrition is
very carefully measured, though some dogs are also starved to encourage aggressiveness,
for the same reason they are beaten and antagonized. Many dogfighters cut off the dog's
ears so that the other fighter will have nothing to latch onto.

Every time a dog wins a fight, it has to keep fighting and fighting. Then the dog
is bred to produce puppies, which are brought up to endure a life of violence and
torture.(220). They isolate the dogs away from all the other dogs and touchier them and
make them mean to train them to fight. When the dogs are rescued from their horrible

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situations, most of them end up getting euthanized because they are too mean to be
adopted because that all they know. Its a very horrible thing that needs to be stopped
immediately!
I am 100% against animal abuse and cruelty! I will never understand why people
treat animals the way they do! They are not something that needs to be abused and hurt.
They are living things, which means they have feelings! Animals need to be treated with
respect and not harmed. People abuse animals just for their entertainment, which is sick
and demented. Animals dont have a voice so we need to be the voice for them! We need
to protect them because when it comes to the human race, they all cant protect
themselves.

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Works Cited

CHRISTIAN, SENA. "Beasts Under The Big Top." Newsweek Global 165.13 (2015): 5254. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

Jachowski, David S., Rob Slotow, and Joshua J. Millspaugh. "Physiological

Stress And Refuge Behavior By African Elephants." Plos ONE 7.2 (2012): 1-11.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

http://hubpages.com/animals/animal-fighting-dogfights-cockfights-andother-animal-abuse. October 12. 2011. Web.

Yilmaz, Orhan, Fusun Coskun, and Mehmet Ertugrul. "Dog Fighting: A Nasty
Work." Research Opinions In Animal & Veterinary Sciences 5.5 (2015): 219-223.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.