How are bengal tigers trained for the circus?

If a circus act leaves the U.S. with 10 tigers and comes back with 25, they can just say that the 15 additional tigers were born on the road – there is no way to prove it if they were taken from the wild. No U.S. government agency tracks the ages nor the individual cats in private collections. read more

Performing animals are usually trained by a method called operant conditioning. This method generally seeks to do something called shaping, where the animal is encouraged to extend and/or slightly modify naturally occurring behaviors over time. read more

A white tiger is simply a Bengal tiger with a recessive gene not a “Royal” or “Snow” tiger. Of course with inbreeding there are a lot of health issues that follow. Most white tigers are crossed eyed, have physical disabilities or physical deformities. Parading white tigers around the circus is just fueling the untrue myth of white tigers. read more

Circus 9-03 | ~Pawsitive~Candie_N | CC BY 2.0 . Yet, in many circus acts, they are forced to jump through burning hoops. In order to condition tigers to make these dangerous leaps, handlers must routinely punish animals who do not comply. read more

Because tigers and lions in circus acts must perform specific acts at precise times and “the show must go on,” positive reinforcement is not the only method used by circus trainers or night club magicians. Often the cats are beaten, starved and confined for long periods of time in order to get them to cooperate with what the trainers want. read more