When I think back to circus experiences as a child I don’t actually remember anything specific about the animals - what I do recall was the escape artist shackled and suspended on a burning rope/chain, acrobats/trapeze artists etc.
WIth regard to banning circus animals, things like ‘lion tamers’, ‘performing seals’ and so forth seem very hard to justify in this day and age.
I do wonder however if some animals - specifically horses and dogs we might see performing in other arenas might be acceptable, though if not why are they allowed in other pursuits?
Ultimately I think it boils down to whether or not an animal is normally and happily domesticated - if it is and is not mistreated I suspect some could still be used.
Should we ban agricultural shows where cattle, sheep and so forth are paraded as good examples of animal husbandry?
As with all these things personal opinions will mostly differ from ‘none at all’, to ‘perhaps some with caveats’. The odd person might not care at all and say any animal but I suspect they would be a tiny minority.
Assuming we eat meet frenchrooster, then animal skin, especially leather will be a usable by-product.
Many will not eat meat at all, but I think it’s highly unlikely that the whole planet will convert to non-animal diets overnight for a multitude of reasons, even if there are compelling arguments to do so.
Probably ‘bred’ rather than ‘breeded’, anyhow I guess even with rare animals I suppose I’d have to question if there’s a difference breeding for meat or ‘skin’ - I’m not sure there is if the animal dies, and whether or not an animal is rare we could probably assume that no one is going to farm a meat animal or rare animal unless they’re doing it to make a living.
Endangered animals really shouldn’t be killed for human purposes (think certain traditional ‘medicinal uses’), however if a ‘rare species’ can be readily farmed it probably isn’t that endangered and may be no less offensive than breeding for food if we have other options.
Many ethical issues/dilemmas, no real correct answer that will satisfy everyone.
I saw the Moscow circus on ice in 1988, I got free tickets for aspirating fluid on a daily basis from an acrobats elbow where he repeatedly landed on it as part of his act.
One of the acts was several bears with their rear feet in skates being lead around the rink by a large a Governess (a la the Chase) sized woman carrying a whip. They looked very pathetic and unhappy being prodded occasionally with the butt of the whip. It put me right off seeing animals in live acts.
I don’t know for example if it’s possible to make medical research without « using « animals as rats or monkeys. It’s a human purpose but perhaps it’s impossible to really progress without.
Skins can be made synthetically today, so we can respond no skins animals, other than pigs or cows .
I think that’s very true, though having once decided to use the ‘humans are more important than animals’ argument decades ago I’m not sure it’s either true or defensible!
Lots of birds mostly, seagulls and native bush birds. We have the migrating birds from Siberia that stop in the harbour in front of us. Lots of lizards. Occasional dolphins in the water in front of us.
Like the vegetarian Peter Singer promoting infanticide for my daughter. Nice chap. Because, animals and humans. We shouldn’t eat meat because animals are conscious and feel pain and suffer when raised and killed for meat. Disabled people suffer (from people like him) and are burdens and should be killed to avoid suffering. Seriously? Humans care more about animals.
Without knowing the sensitive background here I’m going to clarify my comment - I used to feel human life was naturally more important than animal life, I guess some time later I felt that animal life was no less important than human life, while I can’t necessarily reconcile that with being an omnivore, I think humans can be pretty unpleasant types compared to animals.
People who regard those with disabilities in a negative way neither understand nor could put themselves in that person’s position and see the beauty of their existence - I can only imagine such negative comments come from fear and ignorance.
It should be outlaw, it belongs in the 18th century along dog fights and other barbaric practices carried out by humans in the name of entertainment. And the thing about caring more about animals than humans makes no sense, surely we smart enough and compassionate to care about them both.
