Il Florilegio

Il Florilegio Circus includes a rhinoceros, horses, a hippopotamus, camels and elephants.

Il Florilegio became front-page news when the circus first came to the UK in August 1997. Their list of 'performers' included a rhino, leopard, hippo, giraffe, bison, camels, snakes and elephants. The public and the media criticized the circus so much, that apparently their tour was cut short and they left the country.

Whilst in Edinburgh the circus had paraded without permission through the streets. One elephant almost ran in to a car, and was brought under control by a 'crack on the head with a cane' according to one passer-by.

Animals were also taken to Glasgow, again without permission and left in their wagons on the streets for hours with no food and water. For safety reasons they were put under guard by the police.

In February 2000 Il Florilegio entered Eire, where it appears there are few if any laws to protect wild animals. In fact, you can keep lions and tigers in your gardens if you wish, as there is no Dangerous Wild Animals act preventing it.

CAPS investigators caught up with Il Florilegio in Cork in March 2000. This time, some of their usual acts e.g. the giraffe and a leopard (the latter usually rode on the rhino's back) were not there. Investigators watched the performance and spent over an hour watching animals in their living accommodation.

REPORT BY CAPS INVESTIGATOR
Il Florilegio Circus, Leefields, Cork, Ireland
Sunday 27th March 2000

Most of the animal performances were over within a couple of minutes. It can be therefore presumed that the animals spend virtually all their time in their outdoor enclosures, which for the elephants means being chained by front and back legs.

Animals
3 elephants, 1 rhino, 1 hippo, camels, bison, goats, geese, horses.

Elephants
In the ring: The elephants were made to perform various 'tricks' such as lying down, raising legs, standing on podiums, sitting on podiums, and 'standing' on their heads.
Outside enclosure: All three were chained by a front and back leg next to each other. They were in a small barriered enclosure but as this was very flimsy it was highly unlikely they were unchained for any exercise. There was nowhere else for exercise as the site was adjoining a main road on one side and a river right behind. They swayed virtually all the time. After a while the middle elephant lay down which appeared very uncomfortable as it was chained by 2 legs and there was so little space between the elephants. One was seen trying to eat a plastic bag and the video-person had to try and find a worker, which took a while as no one was around.

Rhino
In the ring: Walked around the ring then ran round while someone stood on his back.
Outside enclosure: A very small barriered enclosure with nothing in it except some hay and the rhino's travelling and sleeping wagon. The only thing stopping anyone putting their hand through the barrier to touch the rhino was the fact that he spent all the time we saw him in a corner eating hay away from people.

Hippo
In the ring: Walked around and stood on podium.
Outside enclosure: When we first went out after the performance the hippo was not in any enclosure, just walking around loose in a corner of the circus area near the road and its travelling wagon. A barrier was then put up around it. There was a flimsy single rope put up on sticks and a metal barrier around that. In theory this should have kept people quite a distance from the hippo but there was a gap in the metal barriers and people were walking through. Three young boys and their dog were harassing the hippo for quite a while (10-15 minutes), touching it (including the hippo's ears and face). There were no circus workers around at the time, but even when workers were around they didn't appear concerned that anyone was walking up to the hippo and didn't try and stop anyone. The metal barrier did not cover the section near the road (see 'safety' below). The hippo area was again small and had just it's travelling/sleeping wagon and the metal bathing tank (we did not see the hippo use this at all).

When not performing the animals are kept outside. There is nowhere for the elephants to exercise and their legs are chained. Barriers are flimsy and safety precautions are poor - children are able to touch some of the animals.

Horses
In the ring: Usual circus style of running around ring very fast and usual 'tricks' of rearing, crossing front legs, etc.
Outside: These were all in small 'stables', the usual circus style.

Camels
In the ring: Similar to horses. One 'act' consisted of camels lying down while the goats ran round and jumped over them. The ring-master for this act was very forceful with the camels, holding them by the nose and twisting in order to make them lie down.
Outside: Penned behind the horse tent. Although the public could see them they could not get close to them. 2 other camels (an adult and 1 young) were penned separately where the public could touch them (and many were petting the young camel).

Bison
In the ring: Walking/running round.
Outside: In a penned area out of reach of the public, with their travel/sleeping wagon.

Goats and Geese
In the ring: Goats - see camels. Geese - these were in the ring for no particular reason but were there when certain other things were going on (usually fast and noisy things, which meant the geese stayed together at the front of the ring).
Outside: In a penned area together. There was no area for sleep or shelter so it was unclear whether they are here just for the 'zoo' after the circus performance and possibly put somewhere else at night.

Python
At one stage during the performance a very large python was carried around the arena (outside of the ring) by several people. We could not see where this was kept outside.

Safety
Safety was extremely poor. Barriers keeping people from animals outside were flimsy and staff were either not around to see, or ignored, people getting too close to the animals (such as the kids and the hippo). The hippo area did not have a metal barrier on the side nearest to the main road, just the rope barrier. If inclined to do so, the hippo could have easily escaped its 'pen' and pushed through the flimsy wooden 'gate' (really just a piece of wood held up) and got onto the main road. Children could 'pet' some animals such as baby camel, goats, horses, hippo (and rhino had it come to the edge of the barrier), yet there were no facilities for washing hands (school trips to farms have to conform with such things so why not circuses where children can touch animals?) The hippo and rhino appeared calm and almost in a drugged-state both in the ring and outside. Outside, they seemed not to notice anything going on around them.

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