Animal Rights: Use of Animals for Entertainment

Have you ever seen a monkey riding a bicycle and cheered or clapped or called others to watch the entertaining scene with you? That is the case with many of us. We like all types of entertainment such as the sight of lions jumping through rings of fire and bears balancing themselves on chairs. We find ourselves admiring the trainers, without realizing the extent of torture and pail these poor animals suffer by performing such life threatening acts. Animal rights are something we need to train ourselves about and not wait for activists or governments to deal with because these animals are as much a part of our life as are our children.

Animal Rights: Training of Animals

Training animals to perform adventurous activities for human entertainment violates laws that protect animal rights. Most animals that are used for entertainment have their teeth pulled out at a young age. They are beaten severely by their trainers using whips, electric prods and other abusive tools. Many of these animals are put in chains and caged for months till they learn to entertain as trained.

Dancing Bears: The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 protects bears. In fact, the Central Government has banned dancing of bears. To train a bear to dance, the bear’s nose is pierced with a heated iron needle, when it is just 6 months old. A coarse iron rod is put into the hole. Their teeth are pulled out when they reach at the age of one. They are deprived of good food and trained to dance in severe conditions for the rest of their lives. Due to poor implementation of the Wildlife Protection Act, the practice continues, especially in crowded tourist spots.

Dancing Monkeys: In many Indian streets, you will find monkeys being used to entertain people in street performances. What you probably didn’t know is that this is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act because the monkeys are beaten severely and deprived of food as part of the training. Their teeth are knocked out and these poor animals cannot protect themselves.