Hurray, the circus is coming to town. Not so for the people who work in office buildings adjacent to the parking lot where the animals are warehoused during their stay in Portland. We had a bird’s eye view of the animals last fall (on Free Street in Portland) and we didn’t enjoy what we saw. The tiger pacing in his small cage as though he were going mad. The zebra in a cage that wasn’t tall enough for him to fully extend his neck. The magnificent elephants who were chained to their trailers so tightly they could not even move their feet. 

There is no doubt children who are taken to a circus have no awareness of the pain and suffering animals endure at the hands of trainers. Children have such big hearts and so much empathy for animals, I’m sure they would not want a creature harmed for their entertainment pleasure.

If you already have tickets to the show, enjoy, but consider turning this into a lesson that the animals pay a great price to entertain us and make it your last. If you don’t have tickets, how about a trip to the parking lot between shows instead to witness first hand how inhumane it is for animals to have to live the way they do to put on that great show?

Sandra Paul

South Portland