Melya Kaplan's Blog

CIRCUSES: A CRUEL SPECTACLE THAT TEACHES THE WRONG LESSONS
By Melya Kaplan

For generations, animal-based circuses have been promoted as wholesome family entertainment. Children marvel at elephants balancing on stools, lions leaping through fiery hoops, and bears riding bicycles. But what are we really teaching them?

Melya Kaplan, founder of Voice For The Animals, has long warned about the hidden cruelty behind the spectacle. Circuses teach children that wild animals—who belong in their natural habitats—can be caged, dominated, and forced to perform tricks solely for human amusement. The unspoken message? That power and control over others are acceptable as long as it’s entertaining.

Few people stop to ask: How do these animals learn to perform? Why does a lion obey a trainer’s commands? The reality is chilling—wild animals do not perform willingly. They are coerced through fear, intimidation, and violence.

Animal based circuses have been in existence for as long as any of us can remember. As children we watched the animals do tricks. It has always been considered entertainment for children.

But what are we really teaching?

On Tuesday, July 24, the 5 year lawsuit seeking to close the LA Zoo elephant exhibit ended when the Judge ruled in favor of plaintiffs actor Robert Culp (deceased) and real estate broker Aaron Leider. Judge Segal stated in his 60 page decision, "All is not well at the Los Angeles Zoo. Contrary to what the zoo's representatives may have told the Los Angeles City Council in order to get construction of the $42 million exhibit approved and funded, the elephants are not healthy, happy or thriving."  

Kalimerasas.

My grandmother was born in Ioannina. Throughout my whole life, she taught me that Greece is a land of great beauty, great heart, and a great history.

The world knows Greece as the country that founded democracy which was the first fair and compassionate system of justice.  Many countries around the world have since formed their governments based on Greece’s original model.

Philosophy is also understood to be a Greek creation. Greek philosophy has influenced much of western civilization since its inception.

It is in the 6th century BC in Greek philosophy that we find the first concern for the treatment of animals...

Some years ago when I was teaching animal rights, the students decided they wanted to focus on elephants. We saw a film about elephants in the wild and then went to the LA Zoo. We were horrified by the conditions and treatment of the elephants.

The students formed a group and called themselves The Elefriends.

Their goal was to help the 4 elephants at the zoo:  Tara,  Ruby and Gita,  and Billy...

I remember Pat telling me how dangerous it was to move an elephant. And how she couldn’t sleep and barely ate before an elephant would be arriving at PAWS.

Each time, weeks in advance, Pat would go to where ever the elephant was and work with the caregivers to begin to train the elephant to get into the truck. Very, very slowly. Each elephant had been traumatized enough. She wanted them to know from the beginning of the journey that they were going to a safe place...

The first time we saw you, you could not stand up. Your back legs had collapsed. Yet you bravely tried to drag yourself forward, determined to live. 

Someone had found you in the woods. Abandoned. Starving. They asked us to take you in. We said yes. We immediately rushed you to the vet. Lymphoma. It had spread. Was there anything we could do? We looked into your eyes and saw your fierce spirit. You were ready to fight for your life. And we were ready to help you... 

Not long ago, people used to pay to watch the mentally ill in asylums. It was considered entertainment.

We consider the fact that this kind of “entertainment” no longer exists today to be proof that humans are evolving. This is the value of compassion.

There will come a day, not far off, when we will look back at how we used animals for entertainment, in zoos and circuses, with the same disbelief and horror as we now regard watching people in asylums.

We will see it as a dark period in our history. And we will celebrate the fact that it no longer exists as proof that our species is evolving. That is the value of compassion.

Species evolve based on adaptation: mutating to survive. And we do the same! That is the value of compassion.

 On Tuesday, July 24, 2012,  the 5 year lawsuit seeking to close the LA Zoo elephant exhibit ended when the Judge ruled in favor of plaintiffs actor Robert Culp (deceased) and real estate broker Aaron Leider. Judge Segal stated in his 60 page decision, "All is not well at the Los Angeles Zoo. Contrary to what the zoo's representatives may have told the Los Angeles City Council in order to get construction of the $42 million exhibit approved and funded, the elephants are not healthy, happy or thriving."  

 The roots of this lawsuit go back 15 years to a group of students who called themselves the Elefriends. They were part of an animal issues club that VFTA Executive Director Melya Kaplan facilitated at Crossroads and New Roads schools. We met weekly to discuss elephants in captivity and specifically how to help the then 4 elephants at the LA Zoo.

 We spoke before the Zoo Commission about the fact that the space was too small for animals who walk 100 miles a day. We met with the District Attorney and presented a packet of vet reports documenting animal abuse to the LA Zoo elephants, and we held press conferences. All to no avail. We watched helplessly as Tara died in 2004, as the city council voted in 2006 to move forward with the inadequate and expensive elephant exhibit, and a few months after the council’s vote we watched as Gita died in the same place and in the same way as Tara had. We were devastated.

Click to view a recent translation of a recent article in a popular Athenian newspaper.