Editing Circus (section)

====Controversy and laws====
{{Split section|Circuses and animal cruelty|discuss=Talk:Circus#Splitting proposal |date=March 2021}}
{{Animal rights sidebar}}
[[File:Circus baby elephant training.jpg|thumb|Circus baby elephant training]]
[[File:Elephant3AtaydeFeria09.JPG|thumbnail|Elephant act at a 2009 circus in [[Pachuca]], [[Hidalgo (state)|Hidalgo]], Mexico. In December 2014, as a response to reports of animal mistreatment, the [[Mexican Congress]] passed a law banning the use of animals in any circus in the country.<ref name=Foxlat>{{cite web|title=Wild things: Mexico struggles to find new homes for outlawed circus animals|url=http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2015/03/18/wild-things-mexico-struggles-to-find-new-homes-for-outlawed-circus-animals/|publisher=Fox News Latino|access-date=19 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521061922/http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2015/03/18/wild-things-mexico-struggles-to-find-new-homes-for-outlawed-circus-animals/|archive-date=21 May 2015}}</ref> The law set fines for violations and required circuses to submit lists of the wildlife they possessed, which would then be made available to zoos interested in taking the animals.<ref name= Foxlat/>]]

[[Animal rights]] groups have documented many cases of [[Cruelty to animals#Circuses|animal cruelty]] in the training of performing circus animals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/2004_HSUS_Circus_Incidents.pdf |title=Circus Incidents: Attacks, Abuse and Property Damage |publisher=[[Humane Society of the United States]] |date=1 June 2004 |access-date=23 May 2008  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528102028/http://www.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/2004_HSUS_Circus_Incidents.pdf |archive-date=28 May 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/circuses.aspx |title=Circuses |date=17 February 2011 |publisher=PETA.org |access-date=20 April 2012}}</ref> The animal rights group [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals]] (PETA) contends that animals in circuses are frequently beaten into submission and that physical abuse has always been the method for training circus animals. It is also alleged that the animals are kept in cages that are too small and are given very little opportunity to walk around outside of their enclosure, thereby violating their right to freedom.