One Voice says “No” to the slavery to which animals are reduced in circuses. They are compelled to perform in a way that goes against their nature; they are kept in tiny cages and have to travel long distances under the worst possible conditions. Animals are not toys that we can take out of their boxes to amuse a few people. This activity represents a real danger for animals and the audience alike. The association is demanding the absolute right to respect for these animals.
Deplorable living conditions
One Voice protests in the strongest terms against the deplorable living conditions in which animals are kept in circuses. While legislation relating to zoos is getting tougher, it is surprising to see that circuses are always exempt because of their mobile nature. But how can it be otherwise when you are obliged to move and travel thousands of kilometres a year? How can we tolerate lions, monkeys or elephants travelling in tiny trailers? The animals are chained and locked in direct sunlight, with no fresh water available, nothing to entertain them and without the minimum space necessary to express their natural behaviour… As for exercise? One walk around the ring to the amusement of an audience and frightening applause. The only way out for all of these animals, some of which have been taken from the wild, is death. Elephants, which are such sensitive animals, just give up and die. Others fall ill and are not taken care of. They reproduce quickly and so can be easily replaced. Animals are entitled to respect wherever they are. Circuses must be no exception !
Training, a new form of slavery
One Voice is highlighting the training of animals in circuses. Not only are they forced to work (something which does not happen in the wild), they are also compelled to perform against their nature, trained through force. Training is violent and scandalous. Elephants are forced into painful positions. The performances that lions and tigers are forced to give – jumping through fire, acting the clown, tolerating everything the trainer puts them through – are a kind of moral suffering for them. But the worst happens backstage where the violence knows no limits. As the trainers themselves say, the only thing that will make a wild animal perform is terror…
Contrary to educational principle
Shows that use animals go completely against everything we teach children about respecting and protecting animals. In these shows they see animals beaten into submission. What kind of example are they set by this oppression of the weakest? What’s more, they don’t learn anything about the species they see parade before them. Quite the opposite in fact. So, lions from Africa parade through the ring alongside tigers from Asia. Children are lead to believe that chimpanzees are laughing when actually their mimicry only shows that they are afraid. Children are also lead to believe that it’s natural for elephants to stand on their hind legs! Species which are actually threatened with extinction are exhibited like toys, with nothing said about their situation in the wild. One Voice denounces this disinformation and normalisation of violence through its different actions.
Danger for everyone
The association is raising the alarm as to the dangers caused by circuses, both for animals and for the audience. Most of this danger is related to the extremely old cages that are used and the inappropriate methods used to hold and transport the animals; other dangers come from the training itself. Elephants’ feet are injured by their chains, trainers are killed by lions, elephants or snakes, monkeys escape, animals die in cages that are not suited for them… The examples are legion. Animals, ringleaders, audiences and even local residents are not safe. There is no need for these dangers as animals have no place in circuses.
Unsuitable legislation that is not respected
For example, if circuses were subject at the very least to the same rules as zoos they would just not be allowed to keep animals. Unfortunately, on the pretext that they are mobile, they escape most rules concerning the holding and exhibition of animals. A revision of the law has been studied since 2001… Apart from the unsuitability of the law, the few measures that do apply to circuses are not respected. Many establishments hold animals illegally, some do not ask communes for authorisation to pitch their tents, causing a certain risk for the local population.
Let’s save them… by banning these shows
But thanks to knowledge of the few rules that govern circuses, combined with close partnership with authoritiess, One Voice has managed to save many wild animals held in circuses from years of suffering and certain death. Achille the chimpanzee, Vicky the elephant, Maomie the tigress and Djunka the lion escaped the clutches of their jailers to find an "almost" normal life in sanctuaries. Today, freeing the animals seems to be the only "legal" solution. But rescues are very expensive and the shelters are full… Banning circuses that use animals in their shows could be an alternative. This is the solution that One Voice recommends through its support for the development of circus arts that don’t use animals.
Shows that use animals go completely against everything we teach children about respecting and protecting animals. In these shows they see animals beaten into submission ?
