Aren all circus animals bred in captivity?
No. Consideration of just one type of circus animal, the elephant, reveals just how sad the inheritance of the big top really is. Far from the suggested aim of conservation, many of the circus elephants have been caught from the wild. Both species of elephants are used by circuses. Asian elephants are usually the older ones, whilst young African elephants are also used. The circuses say that these “babies” have been saved from a cull, giving the impression that the circus workers ran around dodging bullets to rescue them. In fact, many of these youngsters will have experienced the trauma of seeing their families killed, and may have been tied to their dead mothers before being collected and sold to a dealer. This is the traditional source for baby elephants. If the circuses really cared there are baby elephant orphanages in some African countries where the elephants could go. Instead they come to British circuses and zoos, to be exploited for profit.
