Then you might as well say that everything across history that might offend someone later is "whitewashing." The point is that she lived in a time when audiences largely felt these things were okay, and now we don't, starting with the OP (me).

You can point the finger anywhere you like of course, but the reality is that this was a show spectacle, whereas nowadays we treat most domestic animals (and wild ones, really) with far more horrific cruelty, but the difference is that we do it out of sight. Ever read about what animal husbandry is like these days...?

The person who chose to attack a tiger with a whip, knowing that it was cruelty to animals.

My understanding of these trainers (ideally) is that they used their whips for control, not for the purposes of "attacking" the animals. The object was to use the loud whip-cracking sounds to intimidate the tigers and keep them in obeyance. Attacking them directly would be a fool's errand IMO, as it would be hard to damage them much, and would quite likely enrage them.

My attempt was to present an even-handed transmission of Danny's post, but I guess it's inevitable that a holier-than-thou type would try to take things out of context and stir shit up here, huh?