November 19, 2004


The one argument that my opponents have that is the hardest to refute is the fact that not everyone involved in the circus has committed a crime or mistreated an animal. By not supporting all circuses that have animals, some people argue that we are punishing people who have done no wrong. Many people rely on the circus as their only source of income because it really is a very specialized field. By taking all animals out of the circus, people may be forced to find new jobs and a new way of life. These same people argue that there are laws to shut down specific circuses that do not treat animals well. With these laws, there is no need to make an overall law to ban all animals from the circus.
To refute this argument, I will show that these laws aimed at shutting down only specific circuses that do not comply with certain standards, do not work. They do not scan the circuses sufficiently and there is plenty of evidence that shows that many cases in big circuses are overlooked or difficult to follow up on. Big circuses also have enough money to bribe investigators to be quiet about illegal activities. Wild animals need a lot of care and they are currently not getting what they need to live a happy life. If they are forced to perform than they should also be happy. While fairness to all circuses is important, the animals should be the number one concern. If any animals at all are being abused or mistreated, than animals should be taken out of the circus until an efficient method of watching over them is created. It is critical that while animals are still being mistreated we must boycott all circuses that have animal acts in them. People in the circus may lose their job, even though they were not abusing animals, but until the circus learns how to take care of wild animals, which may be never, they should not be allowed to contain wild animals. I do not think that there is any way that huge, wild animals such as elephants and tigers can live happily in a circus. They need room to roam. This type of refuting will be an example of the value question. We must value the animals' lives more than jobs.

Posted by lore0193 at November 19, 2004 11:16 AM