Animals in Entertainment? Contradictory Opinions Expressed

There is more to treating animals than keeping them healthy. Are we right to use animals as objects of entertainment? The opinions of 32,902 participants, polled by Meetville.com (dating app to find the right person), on treatment of animals in circuses evenly divided.

The poll was conducted between 7/21/14 and 9/12/14, and posed the following question: “Is animals training in circus inhumane?” Those polled were both for and against in equal measure (“Yes” - 50% and “No” - 50% respectively).

Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University, thinks animal cruelty should not be tolerated: "When children see animals in a circus, they learn that animals exist for our amusement. Quite apart from the cruelty involved in training and confining these animals, the whole idea that we should enjoy the humiliating spectacle of an elephant or lion made to perform circus tricks shows a lack of respect for the animals as individuals."

There were 54% of respondents from the USA, 4% - from Canada, 11% - from Britain, 7% - from Australia and 24% - from other countries. For a number of countries, circuses are a thing of a past. The U.S. and some other countries are not among them.

Alex Cusper, Meetville service analyst, however, points out that “With newer instances of animal abuse coming to light, a number of circuses across the world have started to do away with animals. For example, in 2013, UK agreed to ban the use of all wild animals in circuses but declared that the ban would be enforced from 2015.”

Meetville, a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can find the results of the poll here. If you are interested in research on a particular topic, please contact us. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.