Flea Circuses Are Real?

I was a bit surprised when I saw this article about how freezing weather decimated the performers of a German Flea Circus. After all, I’d always assumed that flea circuses were fake. Obviously, if the fleas in this one could freeze, this one actually had real fleas.

Personally, I thought the idea that these things had real fleas was just a Looney Tunes bit, made up for the various comedic possibilities. I thought these things were all a big joke, a scam of the past to pull people in and fool them like the Fiji mermaid. I thought they just used motors and magnets and things to operate tiny rides and circus equipment, making it look like fleas were actually performing.

But, though some were like that, apparently some actually used real fleas. At least, this one apparently did. (Incidentally, vermin or not, I am sorry that these fleas all died…particularly since they weren’t infesting anything.) Interesting that they can just add more fleas at any time, indicating that perhaps the fleas don’t actually do anything.

Hmmm, some flea circuses have real fleas…I wonder if this means that other circus scams might be true sometimes. Next I’ll find out that there’s a carnival where the games aren’t rigged.