Sleightly Astonishing: Are the Animals Used by Magicians Happy?

Spotlight: Are the animals used by magicians happy?

Last column, we considered why over the centuries magicians have used animals at all. What your casual questioner may really wonder about, however, is the well-being of those animals. And, by the way, if that is what the audience’s minds are on, they aren’t experiencing the magic in the way that is intended.

What a difficult question. Modern science increasingly understands that animals can be sentient; that is, they can experience not only joy or pain, but more complex thoughts like fear. The range of animals viewed as sentient continues to expand, now encompassing all species with a central nervous system (leaving out a few, like sponges, although SpongeBob would object).