The effects of exercise on stereotypic pacing in circus tigers and the effects of transport environments on body temperature of circus tigers

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted that examined the housing and transportation of tigers and lions that perform in circuses. The first experiment involved allowing tigers access to an exercise pen for 0, 20, or 40 minutes a day, and other than rehearsals and performances, holding them for the remainder of the time in their homecages. The amounts of time spent pacing, lying, and standing and walking were quantified. Also, while in the exercise pen, the distance that the tigers traveled was recorded. This was replicated using a set of three tigers from two different circuses. While access to an exercise pen did not have a significant effect on pacing, there was an inverse relationship between distance traveled in the exercise pen and the amount of time spent pacing. Another part of this experiment involved holding a third set of three tigers from another circus in their homecages for 72 h without performances or allowance of an exercise pen. The amounts of time spent pacing, lying, and standing and walking were again quantified. Those tigers held for 72 h in their homecages without exercise paced two to three times as much as the tigers allowed exercise and performances. The second experiment employed dataloggers to record conditions experienced by tigers during transport and their resultant body temperatures. Trips were recorded from six different acts, twice during both summer and winter conditions. The interior temperatures of the trailers were recorded at 5-min intervals, along with corresponding external temperatures, relative humidity, and radiant heat. Dataloggers fed to the tigers before transport recorded body temperatures and were recovered from a total of 13 tigers from four different acts. All data were graphed, noting major occurrences during each trip. Any significant changes in body temperature as a result of transport were also noted. Conditions experienced during transport were within ranges to which tigers and lions are naturally adapted. Changes in body temperature appeared to be affected more by activity at loading than transportation itself.