How are animals trained to perform?
Trainers routinely dismiss suggestions that they mistreat the animals under their care, pointing to the fact that their animals represent a substantial financial investment, and abuse would jeopardize that investment. Moreover, they argue, it would be dangerous for trainers to abuse wild animals, along side whom they would later have to perform. What the forgoing arguments do not acknowledge is that the performance is what makes the animal valuable to the trainer. A non-performing animal is a liability. Therefore, if a large financial investment has been made and the animal does not perform, the trainer has a strong incentive to utilize harsher methods to “make” the animal perform.
