Secret video exposes UK circus elephant suffering
The results of an undercover investigation by Animal Defenders International (ADI) shows the animals being hit in the face, being kept chained and barely able to move for up to 11 hours a day, and displaying disturbed, abnormal behaviour. The circus, which has been touring the UK since February 2009, features two Asian (Delhi and Wanna Manna) and one African elephant Sonja. Despite the Government’s 2006 promise to ban “certain non-domesticated animals” from travelling circuses. ADI secured footage from a camera concealed inside the elephant tent of the Great British Circus, which shows a staggeringly high level of casual violence in just a few days of observations. Incidences include elephants being hit in the face with a metal elephant hook, a broom and a pitchfork, a worker cruelly twisting an elephant’s tail, and the frightened animals retreating and crying out when struck or hooked. They also filmed two elephant hooks being brutally used, a long metal hook was used to hit an elephant across the face during training and a smaller one which was concealed in the palm of the hand and used in the ring, unseen by the unsuspecting audience. ADI footage in slow motion shows how the hook was used on the elephants as they performed and other film shows the elephants reacting and sometimes crying out when the hook is used. In addition to the casual violence, the elephants were also limited for long periods of the day in a small tent and chained tightly every night for up to eleven hours with only enough room to take one step forward or backwards. When the circus moved to a new location, the elephants were confined to their cramped wagon and forced to wait until their tent was erected, resulting in many hours being shut away. During the move from Watford to Bushey on 19 July, the elephants were kept inside the wagons for seven and a half hours – though the distance travelled was just five and a half miles. Stereotypic behaviour was also exhibited by the elephants such as rocking, swaying and head bobbing. Sonja, a wild-caught African elephant, was observed for 11 hours and spent nearly 40% of this time displaying stereotypic behaviour, and the two Asian elephants also showed similar movements. Animal behaviourists believe that this shows that the animal is suffering and is not able to cope with its situation. CAPS reported that Sonja, now in her 30s was orphaned during a ‘cull’ in the mid-1970s and sold to a circus. Previous evidence obtained by CAPS also reveals that Delhi has previously had problems with her legs, collapsing in Germany in 2008 and 2006. On both occasions it required firefighters with a crane to rescue her. She and her other companion Wanna Manna were sold to circuses by Burmese logging camps. This is the first time in over a decade in which elephants have been imported for use in a UK circus. Since 2002 only one elephant has been used here - the solitary and arthritic Anne. Media coverage of the elephants’ arrival has resulted in a backlash from the public, with many people phoning into radio shows or commenting on newspaper websites, expressing their disgust that animals are still used in circuses. CAPS will ensure that these three elephants keep the debate about animal circuses clearly in the public light. Protests are organised at this and other animal circuses, please contact CAPS to get involved. WHAT YOU CAN DO Please contact your MP and ask them to sign the following Early Day Motions:
Also ask your MP to write to Jim Fitzpatrick MP, Minister of State (Minister for Food, Farming and Environment), urging him to bring in a ban. If you do not know who your MP is, click here (you can also send an e-mail direct to your MP from this website). You can also write to Jim Fitzpatrick yourself. We know that many of you contacted his predecessor last year, and thank you for doing so; however, the use of three more elephants means that now is the time for the government to recognise the high level of concern. Write to DEFRA Minister Jim Fitzpatrick, asking him to implement a ban:
|
Shocking new footage from behind the scenes at the Great British Circus, showing violence and confinement of circus elephants.