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“We all want the animals out of the act,” said Lexy Scott, an attendee.

By Patrick Smith

Sat Aug 8 2015

About 30 activists from the Ottawa Animal Defense League protested against what they say is cruelty taking place within the Shrine Circus. Ottawa Citizen

AUG 8. – As the Shrine Circus was setting up at the RA Centre Friday afternoon for the first of its seven weekend performances, protesters shouted their objections to the treatment of animals involved in the act.

Approximately 30 protesters gathered nearby, with much of their rallying cries revolving around the use of whips and bullhooks in training.

Due in part to pressure from spectators, elephants in circuses across the world are being phased out. World-famous circus acts Barnum Bailey and the Ringling Bros. announced in March that they would stop using elephants starting in 2018.

Michele Thorn, who organized the protest with the Ottawa Animal Defense League,
said elephants represent only a part of the problem.

“They’re also not getting rid of all their animals — they’re still going to use camels and other animals in those circuses”
– Michele Thorn

Despite controversy, Thorn believes the protests are having an impact.

For context…

In 2013, the fifth year Thorn had organized circus protests,

she shot video that led to charges against the then-chair of the Capital Shrine Club
after he put a protester into a headlock.
The charges were dropped after the official wrote a letter of apology.

Lexy Scott, an attendee who planned to protest all seven shows, agreed that the removal of all animals is the goal.

“Even the horse and ponies, which some other people may not object to in a circus … we want all animals out of the act,” she said.

“They whip the ponies, they train them just as harshly to learn tricks.”
– Lexy Scott

Additionally, she said the animals used in the show are wild and are not meant to be used as circus attractions.

“What values are parents teaching their children by bringing them to a circus to basically laugh, be entertained and sometimes even mock beautiful wild animals for being tortured and ‘trained’ to perform tricks that they would not normally do in the wild?”

But Richard Curtis, ringmaster and performance director of circus facilitator TZ

Productions, said the elephants were not captured in the wilderness.

“They were born and bred in captivity, captive breeding programs, conservation programs.”
– Richard Curtis

He said the circus makes a point of acting as an “ambassador” for the two Asian elephants it uses, informing the crowds that the species has been in decline, with two-thirds of the population “vanishing in the last five years.”

“We like to think we’re doing our own little part to support them,” Curtis said.

Although admitting that the two elephants, the miniature Stallion, the Gypsy Vanner and six Arabian horses they have are “staples of the circus,” he said the majority of the show involved human performers, including a flying trapeze act and motorcyclists riding in a “giant ball of steel.”

This, said Thorn, is exactly what the circus should showcase.

“They could certainly have a nice show without animals,” she said.

“Animals don’t deserve to have that kind of life.”

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