Animals in Entertainment

How Animals Are Used in Entertainment

Animals are used in myriad ways to entertain us. We see them in circuses, traveling acts, zoos, marine parks and aquariums, and in movies and television shows. They may be forced to give rides or pull carriages, used to take selfies, perform tricks, race, or die in rodeos, fighting rings, trophy hunts, and wildlife killing contests.

Deception by some facilities about how they truly operate has also led to confusion and support of harmful venues; some claim to be rescues and sanctuaries, while still offering opportunities for guests to use animals, breeding animals, or allowing other forms of mistreatment. Others claim that captive animals serve some greater benefit such as conservation or education — but the fact is, animals are used against their will, their natural lives stolen from them.

What Kinds of Animals Are Used in Entertainment?

Many species of domestic and wild animals are used in entertainment, including endangered species.

What’s Wrong With Using Animals in Entertainment?

Animals are sentient beings who have needs and desires of their own; using them in entertainment denies them what they need to thrive and forces them to be compliant performers, often through coercion and abuse. 

The use of wild animals also pushes the demand for wild captures, such as the dolphin drives in Japan, which causes immeasurable suffering to individuals and threatens the survival of many species. It also drives captive breeding to produce adorable babies we can’t resist, like elephant calves in zoos and tiger cubs exploited for selfies. Breeding results in ticket sales, but also a surplus of animals who are often killed. This is particularly problematic at zoos, where these commonplace killings have resulted in the term “zoothanasia” being created. High-profile victims include Packy, an elephant at Oregon Zoo who was killed for being too old to breed, and Marius, a young giraffe who was publicly chopped up for “education” by the Copenhagen Zoo.

Using animals in entertainment puts animals and the people who work with them, such as the public and first responders, at risk of being injured or killed. Notable examples include trainer Dawn Brancheau’s death at SeaWorld, Harambe the gorilla’s death at the Cincinnati Zoo, and Tatiana the tiger who was shot after killing a man who harassed her at San Francisco Zoo, among hundreds of other incidents.

Animal Cruelty in Entertainment

Aside from denying animals their need to exhibit natural behaviors and removing their autonomy, cruelty to animals in entertainment can involve neglecting them and their needs, or straight-up abusing them. There have been numerous documented incidents of cruelty to animals in entertainment through whistleblowers, investigations, and media exposing the dark side of this industry. Even with hard evidence, action from authorities is slow to arrive and weak, often perpetuating cruel businesses.

Many wild animals, including endangered species, are torn from friends and family, forced to endure the stress of confinement, isolation, and long-distance travel, and are also subjected to abusive training practices, like the use of bullhooks, to coerce them into performing ridiculous, unnatural, and painful tricks through fear and intimidation.

The boredom, deprivation, and lack of socialization and enrichment they endure leads many to exhibit stereotypic behaviors not seen in the wild, otherwise known as zoochosis, that we know are signs of misery and stress, such as pacing, head bobbing and swaying, heightened aggression, and self-mutilation. Dolphins, porpoises, and whales may also be seen “logging” or floating without moving, which is rarely seen in the wild. 

Research has found captivity alone is especially harmful to highly intelligent, social, and far-ranging animals like elephants and cetaceans, who have been found to suffer brain damage as a result of confinement. They’re also at increased risk of suffering serious health issues, many of which are not seen in their wild counterparts, and dying prematurely.

Most captive animals are exposed to crowds of people, loud noises, and construction, and some may be handled by the public, which causes additional stress. A 2019 study found that 75% of zoos and aquariums allowed at least one type of visitor interaction, such as petting, riding, or swimming with animals, which goes against the guidelines put forth by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Those used in so-called sports, such as horse and greyhound racing or dog sledding, have to run for their lives and may suffer abusive training practices, be drugged and injured or killed during events. They’re often kept confined in small spaces when not being used, and killed or sent to slaughter if they’re not deemed valuable enough to keep. Even successful animals aren’t safe, like Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand, who was sent to an overseas slaughterhouse.

At rodeos, scared and stressed animals may be electrocuted with “hotshots” to get them to react, and all those used at these events, including horses, calves, bulls, and steers are at risk of suffering serious injuries, such as broken bones and necks, torn muscles, and internal organ damage. Unfortunately, these animals are exempted from protection under the Animal Welfare Act and some state anti-cruelty laws.

However, even seemingly innocuous uses involving domestic animals, such as petting zoos and pony rides often prioritize profits over welfare which leads to extreme suffering behind the scenes.

What Happens to Animals Used in Entertainment?

Tragically, once animals outlive their usefulness, become too big and dangerous to handle, or can’t be used for breeding, they’re rarely retired with lifetime care. With rescues and sanctuaries already overwhelmed, particularly those that can handle wild and exotic species, few are lucky enough to find a permanent place to live. The less fortunate may be killed or sold to private “owners” who aren’t qualified to care for them, or find further ways to exploit them.

What Laws Protect Animals Used in Entertainment?

There are few state and federal laws protecting animals in entertainment, and even those are often poorly enforced.

The Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is the main federal law protecting animals in the U.S. However, it has many shortcomings. As applied to animals in entertainment, it only covers warm-blooded animals, like elephants, bears and big cats, and only sets bare minimum requirements for their care by licensed exhibitors, such as zoos and circuses. Enforcement has also been found to be extremely lacking; inspections are too infrequent, penalties for violations are weak, and even exhibitors with long lists of violations are allowed to continue to keep animals and renew their licenses.

The Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act also apply to captive animals used in entertainment.  

However, we’re working to support a growing movement to increase protections across the country from the local to federal level that range from strengthening penalties for dogfighting and banning the use of bullhooks on elephants — which essentially bans traveling circuses that use them — to fully banning wild animal acts.

Now, more than 150 cities and counties across more than three dozen states have banned or restricted the use of wild animals in circuses and traveling shows.

Some other notable achievements include California becoming the first state to ban breeding captive orcas and orca performances in 2016. The next year, Illinois and New York became the first states to ban elephants in performances. In 2018, New Jersey became the first state to ban traveling acts using wild animals with the passage of Nosey’s Law, named in honor of an African elephant who had suffered for years in a circus before finally getting to go to sanctuary. Hawaii followed with a ban on importing dangerous wild animals into the state for public exhibitions.

In 2022, we celebrated when the Big Cat Public Safety Act was signed into law. This law bans the private “ownership” of big cats, along with banning exhibitors from allowing public contact with big cats, including cubs, and restricts the sale, breeding, possession, and use of many species of big cats.

We now urge Congress to pass the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA), which would amend the AWA to ban traveling circuses and exhibitions from using a number of wild and exotic animals, including elephants and big cats, and the SWIMS Act, which would end the capture and breeding of whales for public display.

Alternatives to Animals in Entertainment

The good news is that we can stop the use of animals in entertainment simply by not supporting facilities, events, and media that exploit them. The future looks bright with a growing interest in animal-themed entertainment that can provide exciting experiences without causing harm, such as CGI, animatronics, and holograms. We can also celebrate talented human performers at numerous events — check out our top five favorite animal-free circuses!

What We Do

In Defense of Animals is working to end the use of animals in entertainment by advocating for freeing individual animals being exploited to pushing for systemic change by taking on zoos, circuses, and marine parks. Our education and outreach efforts covering the plight of animals in entertainment raise awareness about this issue and shift public perception of these industries. We also support legislative efforts to restrict and ban the use of animals in entertainment. 

Find out more about what we’re doing to:

• End turtle races at Brennan’s Irish Pub
• Free Rocky the coyote
• Free Spur the tortoise
• Ensure more animals don’t replace pony rides at Griffith Park
• Stop the San Francisco Zoo from importing giant pandas
• End rodeos
• Advocate for animals in marine parks
• End zoo captivity
• Protect elephants
• Ban wildlife killing contests
• Protect fish

What You Can Do 

• Become an animal defender by donating to In Defense of Animals
• Boycott businesses that exploit animals for profit and entertainment
• Visit and support real sanctuaries that don’t breed, sell, or allow contact with animals
• Advocate for animals in entertainment by telling decisionmakers you support laws protecting them
• Educate yourself and others about animals in entertainment by reading our latest news