07/02/04 Circus YES, Animal Acts NO!
Animal Friends activists from Zagreb and Rijeka protest in front of the "Moira Orfei" circus on Preluk
The protest will take place in front of the circus on Preluk on July 2, 2004 starting at 6 P.M. Activists will be handing out pamphlets against such inhuman treatment of animals as well as holding banners.
WHY SHOULD WE SAY NO TO ANIMAL ACTS IN CIRCUSES?
The majority of their lives in circuses, animals are kept in chains or locked up in confined places or their transport vehicles. They are deprived of food and water so that they wouldn't make much mess. Locked up, chained, lost, and often sedated, they spend 90% of their time waiting for training or performing. Whips, electric rods and other "tools" are often used in order to make them perform. Let's not forget that they are wild animals that are, naturally, not used to traveling, different climates, performing and confinement. Animals are transported in trucks too small for them, regardless of weather conditions and their natural needs. For example, elephants, that walk over 30 km a day in their natural habitats, are chained in tents in the middle of winter or locked up in trucks during summer heats all day long.
World famous circus Cirque du Soleil from Quebec has shown that circuses can function without animal acts. "We do not agree with training animals to perform tricks. We prefer giving that job to human beings." said Pierre Parisien, a member of the renewed group Cirque du Soleil from Quebec, which has developed a circus renaissance all over the world. "Those are animals, not performers. They should be in the jungle," said the art director of the group. "We don't agree with the way the animals are trained and I'm not sure that elephants and tigers have to spend half of their lives in cages and performing tricks around the world," he said. "We won't have animals in our shows ever again."
We hope that Rijeka will head towards the new and ethical future and that way it will be one of many cities that have opposed animal tormenting.
