Animal acts and exhibits run a deplorable gamut. They include diving horses at theme parks, dancing chimpanzees, caged bears at an ice cream stand, piano-playing chickens, caged parrots inhotel lobbies, cats forced through flaming hoops in Key West, and giant turtles forced to give children rides.

Animals used in these spectacles are often subjected to abuse in order to provide "entertainment" to patrons. Even under the best of circumstances, captivity can be hell for animals meant to roam free. Kept in small, barren cages, forced to sleep on concrete slabs, and imprisoned behind iron bars, performing animals often suffer from malnutrition, loneliness, the denial of all normal pleasures and behaviors, loss of freedom and independence, even lack of veterinary care, and filthy quarters. Attracting customers is the first consideration and the animals' welfare is often the last. Even when the mere display of the animals themselves is the "draw," the animals rarely receive proper care--and almost never the socialization and stimulation they crave.

Animals used for entertainment are subjected to rigorous and abusive training methods to force them to perform stressful, confusing, uncomfortable, and even painful acts; training methods can include beatings, the use of electric prods, food deprivation, drugging, and surgically removing or impairing teeth and claws.

Confined to tiny cages and gawked at by crowds, animals in exhibits and acts endure constant stress. They may suffer from temperature extremes and irregular feeding and watering. Without exercise, they become listless, their immune systems are weakened, and they become prone to sickness; many resort to self-mutilation in reaction to stress or boredom. Mental illness is rampant among confined animals. ² Torn from their families and deprived of all dignity, every part of their lives is controlled by their captors.

Worthless Regulations

The Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the federal law that is supposed to protect animals used in exhibitions, merely sets minimum housing and maintenance standards for confined animals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) currently even interprets the Act to exclude certain species used for certain purposes, such as equines used for entertainment, and all birds and reptiles.

The AWA requires that animal exhibitors be licensed with the USDA's Animal and Plant Heath Inspection Service (APHIS), which is charged with ensuring that very minimal animal care standards are met. However, there are only about 85 APHIS inspectors to cover the nearly 8,000 facilities nationwide. In a 1992 audit by the USDA, it was determined that "APHIS cannot ensure the humane care and treatment of animals...as required by the Act. APHIS did not inspect facilities with reliable frequency, and it did not enforce timely corrections of violations during inspections."³

What You Can Do

Ritzy, Little Ace, Mikey, Chico, and Chicklet were monkeys who lived in small, isolated, dirty cages at five different hardware stores in Illinois. With nothing to look at all day but paint cans, shovels, and gawking customers, they were never able to play, groom, or interact with others of their own species. The stress of living in such an unsuitable environment resulted in self-mutilation, aggression, coprophagia (eating their own excrement), and lethargy. Although experts repeatedly recommended that the monkeys be transferred to a sanctuary where they could be resocialized with other primates and receive proper care, the store owner refused all offers to improve their miserable conditions.⁴ No law exists that would force him to do so, and Ritzy, Little Ace, Mikey, Chico, and Chicklet probably would still be in their miserable isolation today if activists had not stepped in. After extensive campaigning by protesters, the store owner finally bowed to public pressure and agreed to place the monkeys in a sanctuary.

• If a local mall, hotel, or other establishment features an animal act or exhibit, voice your concerns to the manager or promoter. Tell them the facts about behind-the-scenes abuse and neglect, and explain the risk of injury to spectators. Have your friends and neighbors do the same, and make it clear that you will boycott the establishment until the exhibit is shut down and the animals placed in a sanctuary or other humane environment.
  
   
• Inspect the exhibit for violations of the state and federal laws. Watch for signs of poor health, such as listlessness, sores, lameness, missing hair, or self-mutilation. Note sanitation, food and water availability, and cage size (cages must be large enough for the animals to make normal movements). Take photographs or video footage of the animals and their cages. If you see possible violations, try to get a sympathetic veterinarian to verify your findings; then contact your local humane officer or animal warden and the sector office of USDA/APHIS, which enforces the AWA (contact the USDA at 301-734-7833 to find out the location and phone number of the sector office nearest you). Insist that the animals be examined and the conditions relieved.
  
   
• Organize demonstrations. Notify the media in time for them to cover the protests. Write to PETA for a supply of fliers.
  
   
• Most importantly, don't patronize any exhibit that includes animal acts. Instead, enjoy innovative acts like Canada's Cirque du Soleil or the Pickle Family Circus, or enjoy animals without interference in their natural environments.
  
   
• Contact PETA for an Animal Display Ban pack for tips on getting animal acts banned in your community.

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