THE BALLOON MAN

Circuses remove last of the big cats from UK's big tops
Activists hail absence of lions and tigers from travelling shows for the first time as animal welfare victory

 

The coalition government has promised to fulfil Labour’s pledge to ban all performing wild animals, but no date has been set.
 Photograph: AFP
byJamie Doward, The Observer
from:  guardian.co.uk
Saturday 9 February 2013
Circuses have been an enduring part of popular culture since Roman times, thrilling crowds with their acrobats, clowns and exotic animals.
But as Britain's travelling circus season gets under way, it has emerged that this year for the first time no circus will feature any performing big cats. For purists it is the end of the big top as they know it. Animal rights campaigners predict it marks the beginning of the end for the use of wild animals in the UK.
The last circus to feature performing big cats, the Great British Circus (GBC), shipped its tigers to an operator in Ireland ahead of new welfare regulations that came into force last month. Just two circuses have applied for licences to keep wild animals – featuring camels, zebras and reindeer.
It is a far cry from the Victorian era when scores of circuses with performing troupes of elephants, lions and tigers toured the country. Even as recently as the turn of the millennium some 20 circuses featured performing wild animals.
The previous government promised to outlaw their use and the coalition has said it will fulfil this pledge, although no parliamentary date for introducing the legislation has been set.
Jan Creamer, chief executive of Animal Defenders International, which campaigns against animals in circuses, said: "There has been enough evidence, enough consultations, all the experts agree – putting large cats and other exotic animals in tiny cages that fit on a truck, with no environmental enrichment, and then beating them to perform tricks to entertain people is unacceptable in modern society. The day of the animal circus is over."
read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/10/circuses-remove-big-cats