By Melya Kaplan, Executive Director, Voice For The Animals

Animal-based circuses have existed for as long as any of us can remember. As children, we watched in awe as lions leaped through hoops and elephants balanced on tiny stools. It was presented as entertainment. It was for us.

But what were we really being taught?

That wild animals—creatures who should roam free, far beyond our reach—can be confined and used for our amusement. That their purpose is to perform for us, simply because we can make them.

It was never questioned—how do you get a wild animal to do tricks? We took it for granted that they just did.

I remember the moment I realized the truth. I was six years old, sitting in a circus audience when I saw a lion in a cage with a lion tamer. The man held a whip, cracking it over the lion’s head. I remember my confusion—if the lion wanted to perform, why was the whip necessary? Why did he need to be “tamed”? Wasn’t he okay as he was?

As a child, I wanted to be a ballerina. Most of my friends didn’t. I loved performing. They did not. And that was okay. I remember looking into the lion’s eyes. He wasn’t okay. He was angry. And then I saw it: the whip cracked, and in fear, the magnificent lion retreated.

I started to cry. I screamed, “Don’t hit him!”

The audience fell silent, staring at me. I was quickly whisked away, and reprimanded for ruining everyone’s fun. But I didn’t care. I knew what I saw.

What Are We Really Teaching?

Animal-based circuses teach children that terrorizing and controlling others is acceptable—even entertaining. They teach that we don’t have to consider how others feel, only how they can serve us. They teach that domination is power and that power is the goal.

They teach all the “values” that we, as a society, claim to reject.

If a child did this to another child, we would call it bullying. If a person did this to another person, we would call it abuse. If an entire system enforced it, we would call it oppression.

As we look back on human history, we see that compassion is the benchmark of progress. We no longer steal people from their homelands and sell them as property. We are horrified by the fact that we ever did.

If we truly want to build a better world—one free from violence—we must start by teaching children that control over others, no matter who they are, is not entertainment.It is cruelty. And we must evolve beyond it.