Bear Forced To Ride A Motorcycle

[Jigsaw]

I'm incredibly saddened by what is described in this article and the video.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/7942862/b...ike-on-highwire

Henri Paget ninemsn

It's a bizarre and cruel scene — a bear clinging to a motorbike and being forced to drive across a highwire with a monkey dangling underneath.

But shows such as this occur every day in China, where a lack of animal cruelty regulations means circuses are free to push their performances to dangerous extremes.

PHOTOS: Chinese circus cruelty

A report released yesterday by the Animals Asia Foundation shows widespread maltreatment of animals at 13 safari parks and zoos across China.

Representatives for the Hong Kong-based organisation visited the parks and documented the abuse with a series of photos and video.

"There's really no animal welfare laws in China," Animals Asia's Australian director Anne Lloyd-Jones told ninemsn.

"So the training methods they use are abusive and not natural … they cut out their claws and rip out their teeth to make them defenceless."

The images released by the group show exotic animals forced to perform dangerous acrobatics and stunts, as well as compete in dangerous sports like boxing and wrestling.

In one particularly disturbing video clip, bears are seen walking on their hands while their trainers kick and punch them.

Ms Lloyd-Jones said it was important Australians took a stand against animal cruelty both at home and overseas.

"If they see similar things here they need to speak their mind, or if they are in China then write a polite letter to the Chinese embassy," she said.

Ms Lloyd-Jones said it was important that Australian tourists visiting China avoid going on tours that include visits to similar wildlife parks.

The Animals Asia Foundation is appealing to the Chinese government to try to stamp out the use of wild animals in circus style performances.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Barbarians.

[ILK]

Very Sad & Disturbing.

I can't understand how anyone no matter how low socio-economic they are could treat these animals in such an appalling manner. It bewilders me that any human could be so cold hearted & cruel.

[luffy4688]

There's another news clip here.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/7740790...l-abuse-report/

HONG KONG (AFP) - Chinese zoos and safari parks treat their animals "barbarically," including abusing them to perform tricks and depriving them of proper food and shelter, an animal welfare group said.

Hong Kong-based Animals Asia Foundation said its investigation of 13 Chinese zoos and safari parks between September 2009 and August 2010 uncovered evidence of animals being beaten with sticks and metal hooks as well as tigers and lions with their teeth and claws removed, causing chronic pain.

The group's 28-page report documents "the barbaric treatment of animals and the poor living conditions they are forced to endure."

"A large number of captive animal establishments in China provide animal performances as a form of entertainment for visitors. The techniques used to force such animals to perform tricks are cruel and abusive," said the report released Monday.

"Showmen frequently engage in negative reinforcement, whipping and striking the animals repeatedly, forcing them to carry out tricks that go against their natural behaviour."

The group said its probe also uncovered evidence of animals housed in "small, barren, concrete enclosures often in darkened rooms at the back of the performance areas away from the visitors."

"The living conditions for performing animals fail to meet their basic welfare needs. Many of the animals have no visible access to water," it said.

The report features photographs of bears being forced to "box" each other and ride motorcycles along a highwire, tigers prodded into jumping through flaming hoops, and elephants "performing uncomfortable and humiliating tricks such as standing on their heads, and spinning on one leg."

"There is little educational value in seeing animals in conditions that do not resemble their natural habitat," David Neale, the group's animal welfare director, said in a statement.

"Teaching animals to perform inappropriate tricks does nothing to educate the public or foster respect for animals."

The report called on China to ban the use of wild animals in circus-style performances, prohibit the feeding of live prey to larger animals, and usher in a licensing system for zoos and safari parks.

China has been plagued by a series of scandals that has thrown the spotlight on poor conditions in many of the nation's wildlife parks, prompting Beijing to draft the country's first animal-protection law.

In recent months, 11 endangered Siberian tigers starved to death at a cash-strapped park in the northeastern province of Liaoning where they were fed chicken bones, and two others were shot after they mauled a worker.

Allegations that the zoo had harvested parts of the dead animals to make lucrative virility tonics caused an outcry, even in a nation where illegal trade in animal parts thrives due to their perceived medicinal benefits.

In northeastern Heilongjiang province, authorities also uncovered a mass grave of animals -- including lions, tigers and leopards -- that died of illness and malnutrition at a wildlife park, state media reported in March.

[amstaffchick]

They are the scum of the planet and the ppl who pay to see such atrocities are no better!

I always smile when a circus animal turns on its tormentors ...death to the animal is a welcomed escape!

[Zhou Xuanyao]

Its sad to see the Chinese do not have a concept of animal cruelty.

They are not the scum of the planet they are just not conditioned to care for animals. Animal welfare is learned its not intrinsic to humans.

[Alyosha]

The saddest part is that these sort of parks are not just frequented by locals. Overseas visitors who should and do know better make up a large proportion of visitors to such places and events.

[PaddyForever]

These tales of what some humans do to animals for their own entertainment, or, usually more often, to make money for themselves, is always sickening. No, I wouldn't be paying money to be entertained by an animal's suffering. And if I was a witness to it, my response wouldn't be polite, either.