Our Turn to Act: A Spotlight on Animal Rescue
Help us protect animals exploited for entertainment
This awards season, help animals who are exploited for human entertainment. All around the globe, animals are held in captivity for the purpose of entertaining humans—from circuses and roadside zoos to cub-petting facilities and other tourist attractions. FOUR PAWS works to rescue animals from exploitation and bring them to our species-appropriate sanctuaries where they can live out their lives in peace.
How are Animals Exploited for Entertainment?
Many animals are held in captivity with the purpose of entertaining humans. Sadly, animal lovers are often targeted by exploitative entertainment businesses, which prey on our desire to be physically and emotionally close to animals, and people may patronize these businesses without realizing the abuse and cruelty that hides behind the scenes.
FOUR PAWS rescues animals from many different types of entertainment and tourism which are harmful to animals.
Circuses and Traveling Shows
The keeping, training, and transportation of wild animals like big cats, bears, elephants, and primates in traveling shows involve some of the saddest forms of captivity and cruelty. Stuck in inhospitable conditions, these wild animals are brutally forced to adapt to abnormal surroundings and perform unnatural behaviors.
Through our work, we’ve witnessed first-hand the physical and psychological trauma and extreme confinement these animals endure for entertainment. Common problems include malnutrition, cracked teeth, tooth decay and missing teeth, chronic pain from non-existent veterinary care, arthritis from ongoing repetitive movements, abnormal behavior, and psychological stress resulting in fear or aggression towards people and new environments.
And while we’ve seen the cruelty and suffering they’re experienced for entertainment, we’ve also seen the amazing recoveries they can make when they are given the opportunity to act as normal bears and big cats at our sanctuaries.
Cub Petting and Selfie Attractions
Cub-petting (and cuddling) is a term for the practice of using young animals, mainly big cats like lions and tigers, as play toys and/or photo props for paying customers. This practice is incredibly harmful to the animals, and as cubs do not remain small for long, it also leads to excessive breeding of animals to supply the constant need for cubs, without plans for their long-term care.
FOUR PAWS was involved in a study which addresses the problem of cub-petting tourism and the harm it inflicts on lions. The study concluded that cub-petting facilities perpetuate harm to young lions, normalize the touching of lions, and propagate captive breeding. These issues have implications for the overall welfare and conservation of a species.
Trophy Hunting & Canned Hunting
Many international hunters travel to participate in “trophy hunting,” a hobby where hunters bring home dead animals as trophies to display on their walls and shelves as souvenirs. Nearly all wild species are available for trophy hunting – even threatened species like African lions and elephants – it is just a question of money.
The most extreme form of trophy hunting is known as "canned hunting". This allows wealthy hunters to access easy prey in facilities where animals are bred solely for the purpose of being killed. With canned hunting, the typically captive-bred animals are in a fenced area with no chance of escape. They may be lured out into the open with bait or even sedated with drugs, all to guarantee the kill for the hunter.
Tourism Attractions: “Restaurant Bears” & “Dancing Bears”
“Restaurant bears” are held captive in tiny cages outside of restaurants and other tourist locations in order to draw visitors. These bears are often taunted and abused by crowds, given inadequate diet and medical care, and display stereotypic behaviors such as pacing back and forth, which shows distress.
“Dancing Bears” describes another archaic attraction, which was once common in Eastern Europe, where bears were forced to stand on hot metal or sharp objects, and thus appeared to “dance.” The bears were often led around using painful hooks that had been inserted through their sensitive noses.
Our Bear Sanctuaries throughout Europe house many bears rescued from this terrible fate.
Bear-Baiting
Bear-baiting is another cruel practice which is tied to hunting. In order to train hunting dogs, captive bears are chained to a short tether and hunting dogs are set upon the bears. The bears abused for baiting can hardly defend themselves. They are restrained, often undernourished and some have all their claws removed so that they cannot seriously injure the dogs.
Many of the bears at our BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr in Ukraine were rescued from bear-baiting hunting stations. After years of lobbying for change, bear-baiting was made illegal in Ukraine as of 2015.
Roadside Zoos and Animal Shows at Zoos
Wild animals have complex ecological, social, and behavioral needs, which must be considered when keeping them under human care – but not all zoos are able or willing to meet them. In zoos, the quality of care and appropriateness of an animal’s environment can vary drastically from venue to venue. Some zoos, such as the Detroit Zoo are quite high animal welfare standards, many roadside zoos all over the world keep animals in small, barren cages which cause the animals an immense amount of suffering. Additionally, animals are not always given adequate medical care, enrichment, or access to peers, which can lead to a life of pain and loneliness. These limitations combined may trigger the development of health conditions and behavioral problems, such as pacing or swaying from boredom.
Substandard zoos and roadside attractions (many of which present themselves as "sanctuaries") remain a terrible problem abroad and in the U.S., as big cats and other exotic animals live in inappropriate and unhealthy conditions with little care to conservation or welfare. These poorly-run zoos and tourist attractions often lack finances and expertise to appropriately manage the physical and psychological well-being of these complex species.
Animal actors on film and television
Animal “actors” frequently suffer behind the scenes of productions. While some tv and films invite organizations like American Humane on set to protect animals, many more productions use and abuse animals on set with no oversight or thought for animal welfare. Even under the best circumstances, animals on film and tv are often forced to perform on sets with hot lights and unnatural environments, which are not at all suited to their species. They are coerced into performing tricks or actions which are unnatural behaviors in close contact with humans. These situations are unsafe for both the animals and the humans on set.
Lion Simba, who was exploited as an animal actor, at his current sanctuary home at FELIDA Big Cat Sanctuary.
Private keeping and use for social media
Wild animals never make appropriate pets. However, large numbers of wild animals are kept in private homes all over the globe. Often held in small cages, basements, or other limiting, unnatural environments, animals such as big cats, bears, and primates are forced to live in conditions which are completely unsuited to their needs. Many of these animals are bought and traded when they are very young, and people exploit their “cuteness,” using the animals to create content for social media. While short clips may appear to show a charming lifestyle, in reality, wild animals in private keeping often suffer physically from lack of proper medical care and nutrition and suffer emotionally and mentally from lack of a stimulating and appropriate environment with their own species.
Charlota was exploited in private keeping before her rescue.
Consumption (trade and sales of body parts)
Sadly, another way that animals are used to “entertain” humans is through the sale and trade of their body parts. Animals’ fur, skin, bones, blood, and even bile is used to make rugs, clothing, food, drink, and “medicine” for the enjoyment of people.
Other forms of animal entertainment, such as cub-petting, support these consumptive industries because a large number of baby animals are needed to keep the industry running, but as the animals age and grow larger, they become useless to business owners, and the animals are sometimes sold into other industries for their parts.
Check out before/after stories for animals rescued from entertainment.
Alternative Forms of Entertainment for Animal Lovers
There are many ways for animal lovers to enjoy animals in a non-exploitive manner.
Sanctuaries
True animal sanctuaries, such as those run by FOUR PAWS, are a wonderful way to see animals in person and support people who are caring for them in the right way. Sanctuaries focus on the needs of the animal rather than the entertainment desires of the visitors. This means that animals will live in a natural environment that is suitable to their species. They are given adequate space to roam as well as space to hide if they would prefer not to be seen. Sanctuaries do not allow interaction and petting or riding of animals. Instead, visitors know that they are seeing the animals display their natural behaviors in a way that supports their animal welfare.
Art
Art is another great way to enjoy animals without harming them. Responsible wildlife photographers, such as Aaron Gekoski bring stunning images back from the field for everyone to enjoy. Visual artists, such as Boston-based Sophy Tuttle can use their creative skill to bring animals like our lion Mario to life. And sometimes artists can make animals even larger than life, as with our collaboration with Sonny Sundancer and our mural in New York City.
AR/VR
Virtual reality and augmented reality are two new tools which can bring digital animals into your own home, helping to educate and entertain the public in a way which does not harm real animals.
FOUR PAWS Rescues
FOUR PAWS has a rapid response, highly skilled expert unit equipped to help animals impacted by wars and in conflict zones. Our team of veterinarians, rescue workers, and crisis managers are trained to work under these difficult circumstances and operates worldwide.
Our Rapid Response team, led by Dr. Amir Khalil, has rescued some of our most challenging and high profile cases such as the Sudan Lions, Kaavan “the world’s loneliest elephant”, the Argentina tigers, and emergency missions in Iraq, Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon.
FOUR PAWS also provides disaster relief for animals all over the world. When natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes strike, our trained team reaches out to local authorities and strategic partner organizations on the ground to support efforts with animal rescue and care, veterinary public health services, and the protection of livelihoods. Our team is equipped with expertise in technical emergency management for animals in disaster and offers guidance to authorities when requested.
See some amazing before/after transformations for animals rescued from entertainment.
Our Sanctuaries
FOUR PAWS’ Sanctuaries and Cooperation Projects provide species-appropriate homes for rescued animals all over the world. Read more about our sanctuaries here.
