The circus may be exciting for some to watch but it’s not fun and games for the animals involved say local residents who want the practice of using animals – and in particular wild and exotic animals – for entertainment banned in Huntsville.
The Facebook group Muskokans Against the Circus Using Animals was created in response to promotion for the Super Circus Spectacular, which arrives in Huntsville for two shows on June 15. Although the circus’s Ontario tour only uses dogs and horses, other shows produced by the same company use what many people think of as circus animals – elephants, bears and tigers. Discovering that didn’t sit well with Kyra Watters.
“I think people would think twice about going if they knew what they did across the border,” says Watters. “I want people to understand who these people are. It’s really easy to say ‘they are just using dogs and horses’ and I think (this circus) has done everything they can do not to raise eyebrows.”
But even the use of dogs and horses is ethically questionable she says – with a 10-day tour of twice-daily shows that covers almost 2000 kilometres, it’s hardly a good life for those animals.
James Hunt, the director of The Door youth centre in Huntsville, agrees. When free tickets arrived for the show, he sent them back with a clear message written on the envelope: We reject the practice of animal abuse.
It would be sending our youth a very mixed message to take them to an event like that. We spend a lot of time talking to them about the importance of standing up for the rights of others, for those who are less able to speak up for themselves. We want to teach our youth to be advocates and allies for each other and to me it’s pretty clear that same philosophy extends towards animals and towards the environment. I think that the treatment of animals in these circus circuits is far less than humane and these animals need advocates speaking up on their behalf. I would hope that The Door is just one of many, many voices that are standing up.
James Hunt, Director of The Door youth centre
He added that one doesn’t have to dig very far to find out how inhumane the treatment of circus animals is and he encourages people to research it for themselves before deciding to purchase tickets. “It’s not a necessity for us to be entertained by these animals.”
Continuing to use animals for entertainment sends a poor message, agrees Watters. “It teaches disrespect for animals and suggests that we have this enormous superiority and authority over them. If we want to see a decrease in dog fighting or animal abuse or just general unethical treatment of animals, we have to stop showing children that this is what you do to them.”
But as Watters discovered in doing her own research, there are no by-laws prohibiting the practice locally although a small number of municipalities across Canada – most in British Columbia – have begun to ban the use of wild and exotic animals. She contacted Councillor Nancy Alcock to see if the same could be done in Huntsville.
“We don’t have the legislation that would say we don’t want them here,” says Alcock. “In Huntsville, we have a by-law that deals specifically with keeping wild and exotic animals, I think fundamentally for safety reasons, so I think we have the intent but what we don’t have is something to deal with the performance and display of them.” (Read the existing by-law here.)
She wants to follow the lead of municipalities like Kamloops, BC, or closer to home Sault Ste. Marie and Cobourg, who have extensive by-laws in place to define and prohibit the use of wild and exotic animals for entertainment. But Huntsville needs to take it even one step further, she says.
“Even if we had a by-law like Kamloops, because of the disingenuous nature of the company (coming to Huntsville) who aren’t bringing wild animals and exotics but use them in the U.S., it adds a whole other level of complexity. It’s really an ethical question.”
Alcock stresses that town staff looked carefully at what the Super Circus Spectacular show included before renting the company space at the Don Lough Arena.
We don’t have an overarching statement that talks about the ethical treatment of animals that would trigger investigation into a company.
Councillor Nancy Alcock
Alcock will be bringing a motion to the General Committee meeting at the end of June to amend the existing by-law. Her hope is that council will agree and be able to find common ground on wording that both protects animals and allows council or staff to assess and investigate requests on a case-by-case basis where they fall into a potential grey area. “I think there has to be room for discussion so that we don’t over-regulate.”
Depending on the outcome of council’s debate, Alcock would also like to issue a challenge to other Ontario municipalities to follow suit.
And to be clear, neither Watters nor Alcock are suggesting that circuses be done away with – there are many that successfully operate with only human performers. Think Cirque du Soleil. Nor are they suggesting that all uses of animals be banned – there would be exemptions within the bylaw for events and facilities like the fall fair, dog agility shows, animal sanctuaries, and equestrian centres.
“It’s the intent that’s important,” says Watters. “Who benefits?”
Doppler’s attempts to contact Super Circus Spectacular representatives for comment were unsuccessful.
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As a child many years ago, I was literally dragged to the circus whenever it was in town. The only act I ever found fascinating was the trapeze artists. The clowns were loud and frightening to me, the animals weren’t at all interesting, and knowing what I know now about their care (or lack thereof) and often cruel training methods, I would never go again. With the internet giving us views of nature at both its best and worst, there is no real need to be “up close and personal” with the animals and making money from this display is terrible. I would much prefer to have a “circus” similar to Cirque du Soleil, with talented performers, rather than watching animals performing unnatural acts for an audience. Leave the animals in their natural habitat for viewing by tourists in a safe and controlled viewing.
I and probably the Town staff would be grateful if Super Circus Spectacular would go around and remove their many posters from the posts they were taped to before they go, instead of leaving them to slowly fade and deteriorate over the next five years. The same applies to the latest crop of long-lasting College Pro Painters signs.
I have attached 2 articles that were recently in the Globe & Mail [links below] that address an argument that many folks fall back on, and try to make a case with. ‘Both articles truly address our society’s ignorance and self entitled approach towards this subject.’
There are many more articles like this, other research, and documents based on studies, hundreds of profs and classrooms, and built upon a solid academic platform that rule out some very old views. They all debunk theories about zoos [circuses] having any educational benefit. {I have attached a link to a CBC documentary as well}
If anyone has any links to solid research that states why zoos and circuses are beneficial please share. I would love to read more about the other side of this argument.
Globe & Mail, and CBC
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/zoos-and-circuses-the-wrong-kind-of-education-about-animals/article29905445/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/the-problem-with-zoos/article30273090/
http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episodes/season-launch-zoo-revolution
Circus and zoo animals, a hard choice indeed. On the one hand we have groups like the one mentioned here that (probably quite correctly) think that wild animals should remain just that, wild and left alone in their natural environment.
Trouble is we humans don’t seem to know how to control our population and most of us regard the “God of development” to be the holy grail by which we run our lives. I mean if a politician or CEO is silly enough to stand up at annual report time and say “we had a zero or maybe negative 2% growth rate” , well they will probably be looking for a new job next year. But this is what we need to figure out how to make happen!
I am digressing but all the climate change meetings are for nothing if we can’t figure out how to control the human population on Earth… you do the numbers if you like.
Back to the circus though. There is another side to this. First, a circus or zoo is likely the ONLY place a lot of people will ever get to see up close a lot of the more “exotic” animals of the world. We don’t all have the ability to take very expensive safari trips to the far places of the world, and even if one does, the odds of seeing a particular animal close up are low. National Geographic does a great job but it is just not the same as a real animal is it?
So, for a few animals to be “confined” and used in a circus or zoo, is this maybe a lesser evil? At least this way a lot of people actually get to see up close one of these animals. They can then form an appreciation for that animal and maybe, just maybe some day that appreciation will result in a policy somewhere that will save some real wild animals. Maybe, as long as the animals are kept humanely, a few in circus and zoo environments are a good thing.
Sadly, in a few cases, a zoo is the ONLY place some animal species have left in which to survive and that is also an issue of human over crowding and our destruction of that animals habitat. This is a whole other issue.
Please note for clarification there is an amendment to the cited exotic animal bylaw bylaw that was passed on December 20, 2013, bylaw number 2013-118.
Specifically the amendment allows for residents to keep certain non-venomous snakes up to 2 metres in length as pets.