Circus and protesters clash over animals
Prostesters and members of the circus have different views about the use of animals for entertainment.
ALBERTON – A group of protesters gathered along Swartkoppies Road on April 12 around 13:00 with boards depicting animals with makeup and painted faces, or animals behind bars or used as puppets, with slogans protesting against animals used in circuses.
Kathy Watson, one of the protesters, explained that the protest was not just aimed against animals being used in the circus they attended on the day, but at all circuses using animals.
The necessary police force remained outside the premises, and other people who drove by were either cheering or hooting.
Jane Boswell (Brian Boswell Circus) previously explained that she does not know why the people protested, because the animals were in perfect health and Georgina Boswell said the pictures the protesters used were downloaded from the internet, not taken of their animals.
According to Georgina, they have been well supported by the Alberton community and will continue to provide family entertainment to the South African public.
No wild animals should be allowed to be in circuses to entertain humans! They should be in their natural environment. Freedom is their right!
A very definite No to animals in circuses from me. With thanks to todays modern technology and social networks such as fb the public ( YES including the residents of Alberton )are very well aware of the methods used to train these poor animals to perform unnatural tricks. It really is abuse and torture for them, a down right disgrace actually. As long as the Boswell clan continue to use animals in their shows I personally will not welcome them in Alberton and will continue to speak out for the voiceless. Nearly 50 country’s world wide have banned animals in circuses and the end to animals in ciruses in SA is inevitable.
The fact that we still have to protest this make me sick to the stomach of the ignorance of man. The practice is barbaric and archaic.. anyone who supports animals in circuses, aquariums and zoos are themselves animal abusers. With access to technology and internet today, nobody has reason to plead ignorance. People just do not WANT to know…. it makes them uncomfortable… We do not own the planet… we are borrowing it for a short time… do not be selfish and destroy it for your children’s children… what is going to be left for them?… or do you not care?… think before you answer…..
A lion doing stupid tricks with a person standing with a whip in their hands is not entertaining. It’s sick. Same goes for any other wild animal forced to live in a steel cage day in and day out. Wild animals belong in the wild.
Obviously she would say that haha they make money from exploiting animals but fortunately for us there is evidence of abuse even footage!! It’s clear the people of alberton don’t want the circus in town and until they stop using animals we will not stop protesting! They are being ban all over the world it’s time SA follow in the footsteps!! Well done
Plaas protest julle om al die drugs en drug dealers uit alberton te kry wat ons kinders se lewens op mors maar nou moet julle protest oor mense wat n lewe try maak
I think drug dealing and circus call for two complete different ways of dealing with them – drug dealers need to go to jail and be dealt with by police.. the circus required a peaceful protest let’s not be silly here and compare Apple’s with Oranges.. you have absolutely no clue who we are and what we do for a living we might just as well have drugs prevention plans as another project so can we focus on the issue on this particular post which is animal abuse…
Rika Kleynhans, I have an idea. You arrange that one and we ll be there. That way we are all doing our bit, for the animals and for the children:-)
Animals don’t belong in the circus!!!! This article needs to go to print so more and more people become aware and edcucated!!!
Feel so sad for these poor animals…. Please let this article go to print , so that we can create more awareness.
I find the fact that Boswell representatives have focused on silly things like where our photos come from and not on the real issues at hand like the conditions their animals live in and the methods they use to train them. Yes our pictures are not from the Boswell circus, they represent all animals im circuses. The photos reflect the misery of animals forced to live in small cages for the majority of their lives. They represent the pain that circus animals endure during training. They represent tje broken spirits of animals who cannot express themselves in their natural ways. Posing for pictures with animals that should never have been there in the first place is just another exploitation and an insult to the public,many of whom know better
Boswell doesn’t need to close down, they must just have an alternative to using wild animals.
cirque du soleil is the worlds best circus without using animals, there are many talented street kids that could use the job.
granted a trainer will be out of work but that job description must eventually disappear. the suffering of any creature is not worth the entertainment of any other
fund raisers can be organised to help this transition as opposed to using funds to protest the injustice. this doesn’t need to be a war
Beauty Without Cruelty’s campaign ‘Ban Animal Trading’ is against the use of any animals in circuses. Circus animals lead unnatural lives of confinement, travelling, training and performing on command.
We would like to see circuses evolve in South Africa, in line with global trends, to discard the medieval use of animals and to celebrate amazing human artistic skills, as seen in the popular Cirque de Soleil.
We will continue to demonstrate to create public awareness of the plight of animals in circuses.
This is a campaign against the exploitation of all animals for profit and entertainment purposes and not a personal attack on Brian Boswell Circus, which currently has no wild animals on site – although no official statement has been made on the use or fate of the many wild animals housed off-site.
The show does include horses, ponies, dogs, goats and many more. Animals in circuses spend about 11 months of the year travelling, for thousands of hours, over long distances. They may be chained or caged while not performing, transported in vehicles that lack climate control and forced to stand or lie in their own waste.
“Ban Animal Trading” calls on all South Africans to support animal-free circuses that provide compassionate fun for the whole family.
The argument that we went to the circus as children, so that makes it alright is a poor one. We know more than we did then. We know that circuses are about entertainment and money making on the backs of others. Literally.
Given the choice, no animal would choose to live an unnatural life of captivity, regardless of the kindness of the treatment and no animal would choose a life that allows none of their natural behaviour. Certainly animals would not choose to be taken from their families to be obliged to amuse us.
Circus animals spend months travelling in small, bare cages. The stress of continued confinement as well as the transportation result in long term suffering and a lack of appropriate social interaction, reduction in time spent foraging and the restricted freedom to perform natural behaviours represent stressors for captive animals.
A natural environments cannot be recreated in a circusesdue to the travelling, with inadequate acommodation and exercise areas and forced movement, handling by humans,, noise along with the confinement results in both short-term as well as long-term behavioural and psychological effects.
It is our shame that with all the entertainment and marvelous technology with incredible documentaries we insist on an hours entertainment which for the animals concerned means a lifetime of enslavement.
No animal belongs in a circus, the humans choose to be in a circus but not the animals. No animal deserves to spend 90% of its life in cage and travelling around the country for years on end,and all the other cruel aspects associated with circus animals. All circuses that have animals in them and those who go to these circuses are equally guilty of gross animal cruelty. If you would not do that to a human then why do it to another sentient being who is capable of feeling the same emotions as a human.NO ANIMALS IN CIRCUSES.
Animals are not ours to use for entertainment! The best circus in the world has no animals , Cirque du Soleil. Wake up and get with times.
Animals don’t belong in the circus. They are not for our entertainment. The best circus in the world has no animals , Cirque du Soleil. SA should follow their example.
They will be feeding them!Who will watch emaciated animals perform?What the public does’nt see is the brutal training methods used and the fact that these animals travel and live in tiny prisons with a few hours outside, maybe,when not “entertaining”!!
Animals are not ours to use for entertainment! Circus animals are abused/beaten to preform stupid tricks for stupid people!The best circus in the world has no animals , Cirque du Soleil.
The cruelty behind this is shocking and heartbreaking.No animal deserves the torture and life of been in a circus. No animal deserves to live in a cage and be denied their natural habitat. If you need entertainment, get a movie. We need to stop this barbaric practice and let our animals be free, as god intended them to be
We will happily support any circus that moves away from this old and jaded business model and steps into the future with amazing human talent on show rather than the use, abuse and exploitation of sentient creatures. Please evolve and let’s move on!
I don’t understand how this particular circus is so naive to think this protest was all about them. This is a protest about CIRCUSES using animals for entertainment, yes the pictures are downloaded because its not generalised to one circus. Its a worldwide rally against this outdated and cruel practice. The animals are perfectly healthy but yet there is footage of abuse to elephants which are entrusted to their care. Not only that but conditions they have to live in and being moved around in a cage with the South African heat must not be fun and games for these animals. It is simple its exploitation and we have yet to hear and apology or any remark regarding certain circumstances. I feel the public has a right to this and a right to see the conditions the animals are now being kept in when not traveling with the circus.
Well done to everyone who took the time to voice their opinion: NO ANIMALS IN THE CIRCUS! While the circuses that keep animals to entertain people, will always use the excuse that their animals are in good health, this is not the big issue. The issue is that animals, trained to perform silly tricks, is not educational. Secondly, the animals may be in good health, but why does the circus never answer to the question of the stress these animals have to endure while travelling around the country? The pictures on the posters are indeed downloaded ~ the issue with this would be exactly what, Ms. Boswell?
Thanks for doing this – I would have joined you if I had known about it. Is there a petition – where do I sign? Please keep up the good work. :-)
WELL DONE Ban Animal Trading and Beauty without Cruelty and their Animal Rights Activists for highlighting the plight of Animals in the Circus.Times have changed and Children can be entertained at the Circus WITHOUT the Animal Cruelty that goes on behind the scenes that the uninformed public never see.
Wild animals belong in the wild. It doesn’t matter how “well” you look after them, the fact remains that you are depriving them if their right to be free! It’s unnatural for wild animals to perform tricks – I just wish your naïve supporters would open their eyes and see the circus for what it really is: a public display of animal abuse.
I’ve seen the videos on Utub and how cruel elephants are treated. When there not being forced to do stupid tricks, the are chained tightly and then into very tight spaces on a train. They beat them horribly. They use a bull hook to stab them and grab their mouths or ears. I definitely think elephants should never be in a circus or ever made to perform. It is violently brutal. There should be a ban on any animals in the circus. Particularly elephants!!
Animals do not belong in a circus! It is not natural habitat for them. They should be free in the wild, not doing tricks to entertain and raise money for the circus. I am so sick of it. I don’t support circuses at all and never will until the day no more animals are used. It is animal abuse, plain and simple!
When animals are exploited for financial gain, nothing good can come of it for the animal. They become a rand on the hoof or paw and have no other value to the owner. Compassion, care and kindness no longer feature!
When are people going to realise that animals are beings with feelings and needs, they are not on earth to be used and abused by greedy humans for their own selfish needs!
Circus animals are not healthy – they are traumatized – dragged around from town to town, city to city in cages with hardly enough space to turn around. There is no need for animals to perform anywhere any longer. I, & a lot of people like me, would love to take our children & grand children to a circus, but not while there are performing animals! Humans have a choice & don’t have whips cracked at them. Animals have no choice. There is no longer any need for animals in circuses – there are amazing human acts, & many overseas circuses no longer use animals – they are still I’m business – infact doing better. Boswells & those like them need to catch a wake up!
Can we not have mobile circus prison cells touring the country then we can go and see the crooks that broke into our houses in cages . Maybe they could perform and we could throw bananas at them if they were good