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Circus is no place for animals
THIS weekend I have read with amazement about our Prime Minister, David Cameron’s, appalling opposition to the bill to ban animals from performing in circus’s in the UK.
Thankfully, enough MPs had the sense to vote in favour of the ban which will finally put an end to this barbaric form of so-called entertainment.
Cameron’s opposition to the ban shouldn’t perhaps surprise me though considering he, along with the rest of his Cabinet, are ex-public school boys and girls who will have been brought up with daddy taking part in the local hunt and seeing animals as a form of entertainment, fox or tiger, makes no difference really.
It just astounds me how the Tories in general got in in the first place because, pardon the pun, a leopard never changes its spots.
Jonathan Schofield, Leeds
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Comments
There are 9 comments to this article
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andrew lewis
Friday, July 1, 2011 at 08:39 PMDespite the coverage from animal rights groups supporters in the various media forms that circuses are cruel and the fact that such supporters harrass circuses and their customers, the fact they are not investigated for crueltyabuse or being taken to court, to me suggests circus is not generally cruel to animals. There are occasional mishaps, such as the groom beating Anne the elephant seen earlier this year. The two independent reports commissioned to look at the welfare of British circus animals found no evidence of cruelty and nothing to justify banning animals from the big top. I welcome the news of regulation for circuses, as this brings all animal circuses together working to all the same DEFRA approved standards. And why not? Other animal husbandry systems have regulations, so why shouldn't circus. One circus related animal trainer taken to court in the last 30 years, to me, one to many but a superb record of animal husbandry. Like the PSB quote above, i have no problems with wilddomestic animals entertaining us providing they are housed correctly, given proper exercise facilities and the training they recieve shows off their natural movements. Wild and Domestic Animals in Circus: YES Regulation : YES Animals Banned : NO.
CatR
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 08:22 PMBye-bye animal circuses - boo hoo - NOT!!! Try to defend them as much as you like - but we all KNOW the truth (and please don't refer me to your 'circus the truth' site because that's a load of desperate propoganda, not the truth at all).
J.Jamieson
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 09:14 PMUnfortunately we have here another person who is using circus as a cheap target. This time to get at the tories. One of the main reasons the Tories have not activated a ban is that there is no proof of cruelty in a circus lifestyle. Scientific surveys commissioned by the RSPCA and DEFRA support this although the RSPCA keep quiet about it. Also there are various court cases going on in Europe concerning this matter and when the circuses win these it will show that it is only possible to regulate the circuses. Any attempt to ban animals now could cost the government a fortune in european fines as well as damages. Unfortunately the animal activists and animal rights group use the whole scenario as a fund raising project. At least animal WELFARE groups will talk with the circuses in order to ensure that the animals are cared for.
Ingo Stiebner
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 08:44 PMArrghh - what happened to my paragraphing???
Ingo Stiebner
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 08:06 PMArrghh - what happened to my paragraphing???
Ingo Stiebner
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 08:05 PMMr Schofield speaks of "amazement" and being "astounded" - you would think that he had just been to a circus, despite his willingness to end that particular culture without any valid reason. I am of course aware that Mr Schofield is more interested in bad mouthing the Tory party than actually taking an interest in the conditions that circus animals enjoy. I have to say I've never heard of a more misinformed, inaccurate, discriminate, petty and downright untruthful campaign as the one that is currently taking place in England. The debate in The House of Commons that took place about circus animals contained a reference to "30,000" people signing a petition to end circus animals - without mentioning that it has been pointed out on many occasions that the petition is bogus - animal rights activists have boasted on forums of having signed false names hundreds of times to boost the figure. A figure of "92% of the public" was quoted as wanting to see the end of traditional circus - without specifying that it was actually 1,600 people who were questioned. Animals in circuses are no more likely to be abused than in a Zoo, Safari Park or any other form of animal husbandry - that fact stems from an RSPCA funded study - so why have they been made public enemy number one? That's easy right? Look at the case of Anne the elephant - obviously horrific case which justifies the current hysteria? Well then why aren't there MPs queuing up to end all dogs being trained by Police dog handlers after the second case in one year of Police dogs suffocating in cars? Why aren't newspapers printing front page campaigns to end Horse racing after so many recent tragic accidents? What would the public reaction be if those tragic cases happened in a circus? Of course, I am being slightly pedantic. I neither want to see the end of horse racing, and I love to see Police dog training - but those campaigns ARE the next on a long list of things animal rights activists want to see an end of, and are prepared to tell any lie necessary to make the English public follow suit. I hope that if and when two separate studies - one funded by the RSPCA, and the other by DEFRA - show that animals can, and do have a great standard of life when racing or working alongside our Police force, people won't be so quick to judge an entire community based on a single case. By the way, just to clear up another inaccuracy - no vote on the subject was taken by MPs.....
Ingo Stiebner
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 08:04 PMMr Schofield speaks of "amazement" and being "astounded" - you would think that he had just been to a circus, despite his willingness to end that particular culture without any valid reason. I am of course aware that Mr Schofield is more interested in bad mouthing the Tory party than actually taking an interest in the conditions that circus animals enjoy. I have to say I've never heard of a more misinformed, inaccurate, discriminate, petty and downright untruthful campaign as the one that is currently taking place in England. The debate in The House of Commons that took place about circus animals contained a reference to "30,000" people signing a petition to end circus animals - without mentioning that it has been pointed out on many occasions that the petition is bogus - animal rights activists have boasted on forums of having signed false names hundreds of times to boost the figure. A figure of "92% of the public" was quoted as wanting to see the end of traditional circus - without specifying that it was actually 1,600 people who were questioned. Animals in circuses are no more likely to be abused than in a Zoo, Safari Park or any other form of animal husbandry - that fact stems from an RSPCA funded study - so why have they been made public enemy number one? That's easy right? Look at the case of Anne the elephant - obviously horrific case which justifies the current hysteria? Well then why aren't there MPs queuing up to end all dogs being trained by Police dog handlers after the second case in one year of Police dogs suffocating in cars? Why aren't newspapers printing front page campaigns to end Horse racing after so many recent tragic accidents? What would the public reaction be if those tragic cases happened in a circus? Of course, I am being slightly pedantic. I neither want to see the end of horse racing, and I love to see Police dog training - but those campaigns ARE the next on a long list of things animal rights activists want to see an end of, and are prepared to tell any lie necessary to make the English public follow suit. I hope that if and when two separate studies - one funded by the RSPCA, and the other by DEFRA - show that animals can, and do have a great standard of life when racing or working alongside our Police force, people won't be so quick to judge an entire community based on a single case. By the way, just to clear up another inaccuracy - no vote on the subject was taken by MPs.....
jddlondon
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 08:00 PMIt has always been my contention that circuses with animals should have regulation of their care and handling of animals as is the case of UK zoological collections and indeed circuses themselves in German, France and other EU countries. Therefore I welcome the decision of DEFRA to introduce such regulations provided that such regulations are considered and fair. However, I have never favoured a ban of animals in circuses as from the scientific evidence this seems both unnecessary and unfair to responsible circuses that who do take there welfare obligations towards their animals seriously. There has been two reports commission on the welfare of animals in UK circuses. The first was undertaken by Dr Marthe Kiley-Worthington and published in 1990 with the financial support of the RSPCA and The University Federation of Animal Welfare (UFAW). Dr Kiley-Worthington spent some 18 months studying all aspects of animals in circuses, including making detailed quantitative recordings of their behaviour for over 3000 animal hours Her conclusions were that circuses were by their nature not cruel and that any deficits in the husbandry of the animals within these environments could be addressed without the need of banning such enterprises. To quote her: “..there is no reason why circus training, any more than any other animal training, of its nature causes suffering and distress to the animals, or should be considered ethically unacceptable" A second circus animal welfare report by experts commissioned by DEFRA in 2007 and stated: “A ban on using wild animals in travelling circuses because of welfare concerns is not supported by the scientific evidence” and there was "little evidence" that the welfare of animals kept in travelling circuses was any better or worse than that of animals kept in other captive environments. The often quote ‘scientific’ evidence use in support of banning circuses with animals “Are wild animals suited to a travelling circus life?” by Iossa, Soulsbury and Harris and published in 2009 is actually not direct research but a review of research and funded by the RSPCA. The authors do mention Kiley-Worthington research but fail to mention her prime conclusion that circuses by the nature are not cruel.
paul bilbey
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 07:50 PMI do not believe animals should be banned from circuses. Animals in the circus are born in captivity, very often by the circuses themselves, so the circus is their natural environment. Providing the housing, exercise areas and the transport is designed and built to proper guidelines and specification and the training is done and based around the animals natural movements and abilities, then i have no problem with performing animals at all.
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