The big lie behind the big top
The circus: Family fun for everyone except the animals.
“The idea that it is funny to see wild animals coerced into acting like clumsy humans, or thrilling to see powerful beasts reduced to cringing cowards by a whip-cracking trainer is primitive and medieval. It stems from the outdated idea that we are superior to other species and have the right to hold dominion over them.”
Dr Desmond Morris, celebrated anthropologist, animal behaviourist and author.
We at PAWS are disappointed to see that McLaren’s Circus is being allowed to perform in Plett from 18 to 20 January. This circus was prevented from appearing in Knysna some years ago, after demonstrations against their use of wild animals, and now they are coming to our town.
They have faced demonstrations all over South Africa, including over this past weekend in Despatch in the Eastern Cape (please see front page of Weekend Post, Sunday 13 January). Please see attached pics of a community protest in Knysna before the ban.
The McLaren’s Circus is the last to use wild animals in South Africa and it goes against the growing international prohibition of animals in circuses. David McLarens’s repeated defence that the animals are “pampered, well-cared for and loved” is not borne out by the well-documented facts and extensive international and local research into what it takes to get an animal to “perform”. Training, for obvious reasons, always takes place behind closed doors. Cruelty is inherent in such displays as the brutal training methods, used to maintain a position of dominance, involve beating animals with various objects, use of bull hooks, whips, spears, electric prods and other tools to intentionally cause pain and injury in order to force animals into unnatural behaviour that results in extreme anxiety and stress . Food deprivation is also used.
In addition to the cruel training, they are subjected to constant travelling and have to live permanently in discomfort in extremely confined spaces.
Our South African legislation for the protection of all animals (wild and otherwise) needs strengthening and while it may be legal for circuses to feature animals, it does not mean that it is morally defensible.
We call on all Plett residents to help us to prevent the McLarens Circus from appearing in our town. We will welcome them when they no longer feature wild animals in their acts.
Please support PAWS and others who are against all forms of animal cruelty by boycotting the circus and by joining our picket at the Plett Rugby Club where they will be performing.
Friday 18 January : 18:00 to 19:00
Saturday 19 January: 14:00 to 15:00
Saturday 19 January: 18:00 to 19:00
Sunday 20 January : 14:00 to 15:00
PAWS SUPPORTS THE INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR ANIMAL CARE
FIVE FREEDOMS
- Freedom from hunger, thirst and malnutrition
- Freedom from fear and distress
- Freedom from physical and thermal discomfort
- Freedom from pain, injury and disease
- Freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour.