Thank you to everyone who signed the OneKind petition seeking a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses in Scotland.
Our petition has now been submitted to the Scottish Parliament. Meanwhile, the Scottish Government is still considering whether to ban the use of wild animals in circuses. In 2008 and 2009, Richard Lochhead MSP, the Cabinet Secretary responsible for animal welfare, said that he could not introduce secondary legislation (regulations) under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 to outlaw circuses using wild animals - as there was no “scientific evidence” of welfare problems.
That may appear to be the case, for Ministers, but only because they base their views on the 2007 report of the UK government working party on circuses – a report from which the fundamental issues of training and performance were specifically excluded ... by the UK government. However, the report also said that this perceived legal difficulty over “evidence” would not arise if the government chose to bring in primary legislation (a Bill). Which doesn’t appear to be too much to ask, either north or south of the border.
The OneKind petition draws attention to investigations by our dedicated friends at Animal Defenders International, who have exposed shocking examples of severe, habitual abuse of animals in UK circuses. In 1999, individuals from Chipperfields Circus were found guilty of cruelty to a chimpanzee and an elephant, while in 2009 the beating of elephants prior to performances was filmed in the Great British Circus. Earlier this year, a further exposé showed aged, arthritic Anne the elephant being beaten and abused in the Bobby Roberts’ Super Circus.
Perhaps that abysmal cruelty was – as the circuses claim – the exception. It is far from easy to obtain first-hand evidence of day-to-day conditions within circuses. Nonetheless, most experts agree that it is impossible to teach wild animals to perform tricks in the circus ring without using cruel methods, such as whips, hooks and goads.
Add that to extreme confinement, frequent transport and relocation, and the disruption of natural social bonds, such as the complex matriarchal structure of the wild elephant herd and it must be clear that these animals are subject to unnatural stress and pressures. But these are long-term effects, and can seldom be observed by non-specialist local authority or other inspectors, who only see the general physical condition of the animals at one particular time.
Anyone who saw Anne, at 58 years old, rolling luxuriantly in the sandpit at her new home after being released from the circus, saw that deep-rooted behaviours and feelings can persist despite half a century of shackling, travel and confinement. And elephants do not naturally balance with all four feet on a tub, perform ‘headstands’ or sit on a stool.
OneKind is not asking the Scottish Parliament to disregard legal technicalities, but to consider the circus life and apply a simple moral judgment. Should animals be made to lead that life or not? After all, in 2002, both Parliaments legislated on moral grounds to end the farming of animals for fur in Britain - and circuses are no more necessary or relevant to modern Britain than fur coats.