The life of a circus animal is harsh and demanding. Although some circuses are better than others at caring for their animals, no circus can ever provide an acceptable way of life for an animal. Hours, even days, are spent traveling between different sites and how ever well managed the traveling arrangements, confinement and restriction of movement are inevitable. Not that there is much relief at the circus site. Few, if any provide facilities for exercise or play and the larger animals spend much of their lives tethered by chains.
Training is another thorny question.
Many trainers protest vigorously when they are accused of cruelty. Some may be quite justified, but it is an indisputable fact that many methods of training are cruel and that sticks and goads that have spikes or nails concealed in them are known to exist. Whether they are in regular use or not would be impossible to prove, but certainly many of the animals, admired for their obedience in the ring are exhibiting signs of fear, not compliance. Circus owners and proprietors would obviously take a very different view. They claim that there is no cruelty involved in training circus animals that the animals enjoy performing and that constant traveling imposes no particular stress on them.