Trainers resort to brutal methods to maintain a position of dominance. Wild animals will always behave in instinctive and unpredictable ways and can never be made willing or safely manageable through training. The animals move from circus to circus, following seasonal contracts. Many circuses don t bother to provide regular, competent veterinary care. Animals who aren t obedient or who have grown too old to perform may be sold or given to zoos, roadside attractions, research laboratories, or private individuals options unlikely to improve their quality of life.
Circus animals spend much of their lives in small, often dirty cages, barely able to turn around.
Circus animals often are shipped in trucks and railway cars without heat or air conditioning and often are deprived of food and water for extended periods. Tyke was shot to death in the city street. In 1990 a chimpanzee abandoned his motorcycle act, rushed into the stands, and bit a child. A month later, during another performance, Mickey attacked a child. Watching wild animals perform unnatural tricks outside their natural habitats doesn t teach people anything about the animals.