On Circus Brutality
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Corrine Flocken’s circus review, “It’s the Biggest Retirement on Earth” (July 7), glorifies Ringling Bros. exotic-animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams, who, we are told, “uses the whip sparingly.” What a saint!
The article neglected to say that circus animals are routinely trained to perform unnatural acts, such as jumping through flaming hoops and balancing on balls, through the use of beatings and starvation--all for the amusement of callous humans.
It is sad that audiences create a market for such cruelty by patronizing such spectacles and disappointing that The Times encourages such cruelty by glorifying those who torture other creatures for profit.
PETER L. COHON
Laguna Beach
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