Durban - Having the McLaren Circus in KwaZulu-Natal has reignited the fight against using animals in circuses by animal rights groups.
The McLaren Circus is now in Hutchinson Park, in eManzimtoti, and has been travelling around the province for months.
Ban Animal Trading South Africa (Batsa) protested outside the circus over the weekend, and their protest had a positive result, according to volunteer Prathna Singh.
Singh said they felt the use of any animals for entertainment or profit was cruel and using animals in circuses was outdated.
“We’ve been protesting in a number of places while McLaren has been travelling around KZN. We had about 100 people showing up and it was a clear indication that Toti as a community was not happy with the circus being in their town. It shows us that the public is becoming more aware of this abuse and are taking a stand against it,” she said.
Their goal, she said, was for all circuses not to use animals in acts.
Neeri Naidoo, of Phoenix Animal Care & Treatment (Pact), said there were many circuses that did not use animals and were “far more entertaining”.
“These animals are kept in a confined environment and are subjected to travelling and horrendous training and exercises. The circus claims it’s not cruel, but they perform the acts with a whip in their hand.
“While we were protesting when the circus was in Phoenix, the lion roared and we’d never heard a lion roar with such exhaustion, almost as if he was giving up,” Naidoo said.
She said Pact did not want McLaren to close, they just wanted him to stop using animals.
McLaren Circus spokesperson Karl Hilderbrandt said as long as they kept in order, they did not mind the protests because it was their legal right to protest.
“As a business, it’s our legal right to have animals in our circus. We have all our permits in place. We follow all legal procedures, we are inspected by the SPCA and we get private vets to come in to inspect our animals,” Hilderbrandt said.
He said they had experienced protests around South Africa, but their clientele always had good things to say about their shows.
In 2013, more than 100 protesters and animal rights activists protested near the Brian Boswell Circus after a documentary was aired by TV programme Carte Blanche, showing two grooms abusing two elephants.
In 2014, a cleaner at McLaren Circus was attacked by a tiger while he was mopping an enclosure in Johannesburg.
Arno de Klerk, the National Inspector of the NSPCA Wildlife Protection Unit, said: “The National Council of SPCAs is vehemently opposed to the use of animals in sports and entertainment that causes suffering.”
De Klerk said the NSPCA and regional SPCAs conducted inspections to ensure there were no contraventions in terms of the Animals Protection Act.
The permits required are for the Animals Protection Act, Performing Animals Protection Act and National and Provincial Conservation.
“We will intervene where necessary to prevent suffering and continue to oppose wild animals in captivity,” de Klerk said.