Positive Reinforcement Of Animals Research Paper

You don’t beat your kid when they learn to walk on two legs and fall, why do it to animals? Animal cruelty has become a real problem in circuses. I believe that the “traditional method” is not working, and that positive reinforcement is the way to go. First off I would like to explain the “Traditional method”. The “traditional method” starts by ripping the baby from the mother. Then “breaking” the elephants by making them stand for 23 hours a day. After the baby elephants are broken they are then forced into performance positions by use of; bullhooks, and ropes/ chains. Then once they are trained they then move on to spend 96% of their life in a boxcar without climate control. In which they eat, sleep, and use the bathroom. This is a general view of the traditional method. Now let's look at some …show more content…
As a result sometimes the elephants die. Once the elephants are trained any mess up results in a severe beating called “extreme discipline.” This method also gives elephants physical and emotional scars. There is however a less harmful and more productive way to train elephants and other circus animals. This method is called “positive reinforcement. This is the same method we use to train humans, and pets. This positive training has been used to train work elephants in asia and has led to better attitude and performance. This positive method also means you can train the elephant at any age instead of as an infant. This means there is no ripping infants away from mothers and there are no known physical/mental effects. As you can see “positive reinforcement” is much more effective than the traditional method and also less harmful to animals and trainers. For one thing the traditional method is harmful and less effective, while the positive method is more effective and has no need for pain/ fear. While this method is fairly new to elephants humans have been using it for thousands of