Animal Rights Group Calls For Circus Animal Seizurers

national | animal rights | press release

Thursday July 20, 2006 22:58

by Nuala Donlon - Captive Animals Protection Society (Ireland)

nualadon at hotmail dot com

Abandoned Kangaroo

The Captive Animals Protection Society (CAPS) is today calling for the seizure of the animals being kept in Circus Sydney, following the admission of a circus spokesperson (Mr.Jan Erik Brenner on Matt Cooper – The Last Word Today FM) that a kangaroo escaped in Cork last weekend after children were allowed unsupervised access to its pen following one of its shows. The circus has since moved on to Wexford, effectively abandoning the kangaroo in Cork.

The kangaroo, which remains at large, escaped when children left the gate open after going inside to pet the animal. On the Last Word programme, Mr Bernner admitted that children do have unsupervised access to animals after big top shows, and that the kangaroo escaped when the gate of its pen was left open by one of the visiting children

Animal Rights Group Calls For Circus Animal Seizurers

The Captive Animals Protection Society (CAPS) is today calling for the seizure of the animals being kept in Circus Sydney, following the admission of a circus spokesperson (Mr.Jan Erik Brenner on Matt Cooper – The Last Word Today FM) that a kangaroo escaped in Cork last weekend after children were allowed unsupervised access to its pen following one of its shows. The circus has since moved on to Wexford, effectively abandoning the kangaroo in Cork.

The kangaroo, which remains at large, escaped when children left the gate open after going inside to pet the animal. On the Last Word programme, Mr Bernner admitted that children do have unsupervised access to animals after big top shows, and that the kangaroo escaped when the gate of its pen was left open by one of the visiting children. Although visitors to the kangaroo enclosure in Dublin Zoo are warned not to put their hands through the bars of the enclosure as these animals bite, Mr. Brenner has claimed that it is perfectly safe for children to approach the escaped kangaroo in Cork.

CAPS Irish spokesperson Nuala Donlon has today called on the Department of Agriculture to impound all the animals in Sydney Circus on grounds of public safety as well as animal welfare. Pointing to the bad public safety record of this particular circus, Ms. Donlon has pointed out that when traveling last year under the name Circus New York, animals from this Ricky Courtney outfit were involved in a number of attacks on members of the public. Last summer alone, five members of the public were attacked by the circus monkey and one of Circus New York’s own workers was critically injured after being attacked by one of the elephants. (The monkey in question disappeared soon after the last attack, and photographic evidence shows that this is the same monkey found abandoned in a van for over a week without food or water in Laois earlier this year).

“All circuses are inherently unsuitable places for animals to be, especially dangerous wild animals, but this circuses relaxed attitude to public safety should ring alarm bells for the Irish authorities,” Ms. Donlon said. “The animals in the care of Circus Sydney should immediately be taken into a secure environment and attempts made to try and afford these unfortunate creatures some quality of life for whatever time they have left on earth.”

In the immediate term Ms. Donlon, who is accusing the circus of abandoning the animal, is calling on the Gardai and the Cork SPCA to launch an immediate investigation into this incident and instigate prosecutions under the appropriate legislation. She is also calling for legislation to ban the keeping of animals in circuses.

For further information contact Nuala Donlon on 086 – 3985761

Nuala Donlon,
Irish Spokesperson, Captive Animals Protection Society
July 20th, 2006