When the Great Moscow Circus rolled into Jozi town this week, it brought along its “beast wagons”, leading to calls by welfare groups for a ban on using wild animals to perform in circuses.
The circus moved to Johannesburg after a month in Cape Town, bringing with it two tigers and a pack of dogs who entertain audiences by trotting out in fancy dress and playing a game of soccer.
The tigers — one white and one brown — are not required to do tricks, but are part of a Las Vegas-style magic illusion show that the circus features.
The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA), which opposed the granting of a licence to the circus last year, this week raised concerns about the welfare of wild animals in such “travelling menageries”.
“Wild animals don’t belong in captivity, especially not circuses, where they are required to go from one town to the next and live out their lives in beast wagons,” says Marcelle Meredith, executive director of the NSPCA. “They are called beast wagons because that is how archaic circuses who use wild animals are.”
A number of years ago animal welfare organisations called for a ban on performing wild animals in South Africa, but this only found favour in a Cape Town ordinance that is no longer in effect. Meredith says her organisation is concentrating its energies on other issues “but we should be calling for a ban. We just don’t have such a campaign right now.”
To use animals for performing, outfits have to apply for a licence from a magistrate, in terms of the Performing Animals Protection Act. The licence for the Great Moscow Circus was granted by Cape Town magistrate HJ Venter.
When the circus applied for the licence last September, the NSPCA raised written objections with the magistrate about keeping the tigers in cages for long periods and transporting them in South Africa’s summer heat, as well as concerns about the mental well-being of the wild animals and what happens to them when they are no longer of use to the circus.
“Illustrations of the mental injuries inflicted on the animals by prolonged confinement and captivity include the behavioural disturbance of constant pacing in the cage, gnawing by the animal of its own body parts, heightened aggression and other anti-social behaviour,” wrote Rick Allen, manager of the wildlife unit at the NSPCA.
For reasons such as these, more than 15 countries — including Ireland, Finland, Brazil, Singapore and Austria — and about 250 councils around the world have prohibited or restricted the use of exotic animals in circuses. New Zealand refused to ban the practice late last year, despite more than 18Â 000 protest submissions from citizens.
Public sentiment against animal tricks has seen many circuses reject them. “Modern circuses cope quite well without them, a prime example being the Cirque du Soleil,” says Meredith.
“Circus owners argue that wild animals in their acts have educational value. The global animal welfare movement of which we are a part refutes this entirely. When you educate, you ensure that you educate holistically, about the animal in its own environment.
“Some naive members of the public don’t see the problem. This is a performance and the public have come to be entertained. But they don’t see what goes on behind the scenes,” says Meredith.
She says the NSPCA often receives complaints from the South African public about circus animals, including a number about the Moscow tigers.
Michael Edgely, promoter and producer of the show, says using tigers in illusion acts is a “tradition around the world” and they are an important part of the show.
He says the tigers are “extremely well looked after” by their trainers and are even provided with air-conditioning to counter the heat. “The sad thing is, these animals are better looked after than most people in the world.”
Edgely says more than 70Â 000 people attended the shows at the Waterfront in Cape Town in December, “and we did not have one single complaint”.