Animal circus’s ‘come and see us’ offer to MPs (From Basildon Recorder)
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Animal circus’s ‘come and see us’ offer to MPs
11:00pm Friday 1st July 2011 in News
A CIRCUS has invited MPs who want to ban animals from performing to take a behind-the-scenes look at how they are treated.
The invitations to watch training, husbandry, and the show at the Great British Circus were sent out following a vote in the House of Commons, where MPs supported banning animals from circuses.
MPs defied the wishes of the coalition Government, which wanted to introduce a strict licensing system for anyone wanting to use animals in their shows.
Wendy Morgan, a member of Southend Animal Aid, said: “To train animals, circuses start their treatment from when they are babies and it is wrong to cage them anyway.”
The circus is due in Rochford in August for a three-week stay and last month animal rights campaigners called on people to boycott it.
Colchester Lib-Dem MP Bob Russell, who helped to make sure a parliamentary motion went to the vote, urged his constituents not to go when the circus visits Stanway from July 19 to July 24.
He has declined to take up the circus’s offer. The circus was criticised in 2009 when footage showed elephants being hit with sticks during a tour elsewhere in the country.
Mr Russell said: “I hope the people of Colchester will have the good sense not to go to this animal circus. Instead, I hope they will support the all-human circus from the Netherlands, which will also be coming to Colchester during July.”
Martin Lacey, owner of the Great British Circus, said: “We set ourselves a very high standard in all aspects of the show.
“We have consistently won awards for the care and welfare of our wonderful animals.”
Comments(10)
andyh
says...
6:28am Sat 2 Jul 11
Is a zebra really that different from a horse or donkey in terms of mentality and behaviour? There is some difference of degree, but not of kind.
Similarly camels are well established in a similar role to horses throughout large areas of the world.
APR
says...
8:37am Sat 2 Jul 11
.
The horse used to be a wild animal, look at the inhuman way so many people use them. Making them run, jump, and do silly tricks. Just to show how clever the rider is.
andyh
says...
11:36am Sat 2 Jul 11
Also, such an accident-prone animal would have been extinct for centuries without its partnership with humans.
John the resonator
says...
12:16pm Sat 2 Jul 11
such an accident-prone animal would have been extinct for centuries without its partnership with humans.
Fascinating idea, you could be right. Although I believe ancestral horses were a lot smaller than modern domesticated ones, maybe making the impact of falls etc. less dangerous.
The only problem with that view is Przewalski's horse in Mongolia, which is smaller and is undomesticated. I believe it is an endangered species in the wild but that is thought to be down to interbreeding with domesticated horses. Failing that it might be thriving.
Nebs
says...
1:01pm Sat 2 Jul 11
Mary Lou
says...
3:21pm Sat 2 Jul 11
andyh
says...
5:40pm Sat 2 Jul 11
Nebs wrote:I put this point to TingTing and her considered comment was "miaow". Which translates as "Don't you dare! Where will I get my two meals a day? Who will chase away the big grey bully when he harasses me? and where will I find I nice warm comfortable bed to share on a winter's night? and would I actually have to _eat_ those horrible little mice that I hunt?"
It is inhumane how some people lock up animals that have a natural instinct to run free. The cat is a prime example, they should all be released back into the wild.
perini
says...
3:15pm Mon 4 Jul 11
They'll be the clowns then!!
mac_mum
says...
4:24pm Mon 4 Jul 11
Alice in Her Own Land :P says...
6:06am Sat 2 Jul 11