This essay discusses animal welfare and animals in entertainment and agriculture. Humans watch in amazement as animals in cages perform to entertain us. We get rid of their freedoms and natural behaviors for our entertainment. We see these animals on movie screens, in zoos, marine parks, rodeos, racetracks, and circuses. Animal cruelty in agriculture is also another form of how badly we treat animals. According to the United Nations, the number of industrial livestock slaughtered each year is eight times the human population. Factory farming is the leading cause of animal suffering and abuse. We convert these silent victims into machines that generate meat, milk, and eggs.
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HISTORY OF CIRCUSES AND OTHER ANIMAL ENTERTAINMENTS
Apart from animal cruelty in agriculture, there is a long history of the usage of animals for entertainment. Archaeologists found evidence of lions kept in cages in Macedonia dating back to around 2000 BC. Before factory farming, rulers in Egypt, China, and Rome would collect exotic animals as symbols of power and wealth. Their allies gave them animals as gifts. These animals included elephants, bears, giraffes, and large cats. Greeks were among the first to capture animals for educational purposes. The Romans used animals in entertainment by forcing wild animals to fight to the death inside of large arenas. In the Middle Ages, dog and cockfighting also became popular along with bull and bear-baiting.
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HOW FACTORY FARMING CAUSES ANIMAL ABUSE
Factory farming causes harm and abuse through extreme conditions such as overpopulating them in small cages. For example, it can stress chicken to the point that they peck each other in frustration. Due to this, and in addition to their weakness, they lose their feathers. This is just one form of animal cruelty in agriculture. For many animals, the only time they see and feel the light and warmth of the sun will be during the trip to the slaughterhouse. Transport conditions are incredibly inhumane, especially for animals in entertainment. Lastly, we put animals into large trucks, sometimes traveling long distances, without food or water.
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