Friday, July 13, 2012

Circus entertains some, angers others


The Shrine Circus' Freestyle Motor Show wows a Windsor audience on July 11, 2012.
from:  ourwindsor.ca
by Sanja Frkovic
Thursday, July 12th, 2012
For over 80 years, The Shrine Circus has featured entertaining animal acts and death-defying stunts, raising more than $750,000 for Shriners charities in the process. The WFCU Centre hosted the charity event last night for the second year in a row.
 Indoors performances such as Equestrianism, Tarzan Zebrini Performing Elephants and the Freestyle Motor Show delighted the crowd. Outside, as young and old settled into their seats for the show, 60 non-violent protesters lined the street near parking lot.
 
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Erika Zerbinie continues a circus tradition of dancing horses with 'Equestrianism' on July 11, 2012.
“We wanted to have a voice for the animals who don’t have a chance to say that they don’t want to be involved,” explained Kate James, co-founder of Ban the Shrine Circus protest.  This is the first protest for the group and members organized through a page on Facebook.
 Admitting that she has never attended The Shrine Circus, James felt it was important to offer a different perspective to the public.  Generalizing about the circuses she stated,“The amount of abuse that occurs within the circus of any kind – even though they say they are humanely treated – it’s just impossible.”
 A representative was not available for comment on the circus or its protestors but Global Spectrum did release the following statement: “Global Spectrum Facility Management is happy to provide a multitude of events at the WFCU Centre that target a variety of demographics within Windsor and Essex County. All of the events within the WFCU Centre are held to very high standards, and must pass certification from municipal, provincial and federal levels before we consider hosting them in our facility.”

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