"These animals have been beaten to be forced to perform ridiculous tricks," says Laura Lee of the group, Compassion For Animals. "They are robbed of every shred of dignity.
"Those who believe that this cruelty is a way to celebrate our country have to ask themselves, 'Where did Canada go wrong?'"
The Shrine Circus will be operating in a section of the parking lot of the Sheridan Centre through Canada Day. As Stewart further notes, the circus defends its treatment of circus animals, and particularly elephants (a main tusk of contention with animal activists). The circus funds and runs the Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC), an expansive facility in Florida which includes and Asian elephant breeding programme and an elephant retirement facility.
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Conservation claims made by circuses are merely veiled attempts to justify the exploitation of animals for commercial gain. Endangered animals born in circus "conservation" programs have never been released into the wild — they are doomed, instead, to life in captivity. They are simply breeding elephants to stock their profitable circus.
In the wild, native species are at risk due to environmental threats brought about by human behavior, not because the animals have difficulty breeding. While circuses line their pockets with money from the ticket prices, wild animal populations continue to drop due to a lack of funding and support for enforcement of protection laws, educational programs, and habitat preservation in the animals' native lands. Circuses do nothing to address these problems. The truth is captive breeding in circuses does nothing to help endangered species.
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