 |
How the Daily Mail reported the
return of elephants to the Great British Circus
in 2009 |
The first calls to ban performing animals were made 100 years ago. In this article that originally appeared in The Stage, I untangle the history of opposition to animals in entertainment.
Animals have been entertaining us for as long as we’ve had professional entertainment. The word ‘circus’ dates from
Roman arenas such as the
Circus Maximus, where the spectacle ranged from chariot races to exhibitions of exotic breeds from across the empire. The circus as we know it was founded in
London in
1768 by trick horse-rider
Philip Astley, who augmented equestrian displays with clowns, acrobats and strongmen.
Animals were also part of music hall tradition.
Jospeph Grimaldi, the early 19th century pantomime star regarded as the father of clowning, used a trained donkey called
Neddy in his act.
 |
The PG Tips chimps were among the most
popular TV stars of the 70s, but times change and the
long-running advertising campaign was eventually dropped. |
 |
Retired to a zoo, the chimps, including 42-year-old Choppers,
pictured here, were said to miss human interaction and
found it hard to integrate with other apes. Is that why
she looks so sad? Or does she just want a cuppa? |
During the 20th century, animals were used in the film and television industries from the beginning, making stars of
Lassie,
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and
Flipper the dolphin.
Part of that tradition seemed destined to disappear when the government announced its plans to ban wild animals in circuses from December 2015. But that now looks unlikely to happen after the much anticipated
Wild Animals in Circuses Bill failed to appear in the list of legislation to be brought before Parliament before the next election.
The campaign to outlaw performing animals is not new, however, and neither is the phenomenon of actors and other celebrities using their fame to endorse animal rights groups such as
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
The formation of the world’s oldest animal welfare organisation, the
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), in
1824, led to the
Cruelty to Animals acts of
1835 and
1876. The latter was intended to regulate experiments on animals. But concern over the use of animals in science spread to questions about their treatment in entertainment and led to the
Wild Animals in Captivity Protection Act, 1900.
 |
Jack London
- Pulp novelist who called
for direct action against
circuses with animals |
The Performing Animals Defence League was founded in
1914 to campaign against the use of performing animals. It was followed in 1918 by the
Jack London Club. The latter was named after American pulp novelist
Jack London who called for direct action against animal performances in the forward to his 1917 novel
Michael, Brother of Jerry, which focused on alleged cruelty to animals in America. The
Jack Londoners, as they were known, picketed circuses in the US and then Britain and Europe throughout the 1920s.
The first attempt at a government ban came in
1921, when Liberal MP
Joseph Kenworthy introduced the
Performing Animals Prohibition Bill. The bill was unsuccessful, but a select committee was set up to investigate the issue and led to the
Performing Animals (Regulation) Act of 1925 which to this day requires that anyone who wishes to perform with an animal in public must possess a licence.
Calls for a ban continued and in 1927, the
RSPCA wrote to the
Times, asking “Will the public help to abolish this painful form of amusement by refraining from patronising exhibitions in which performing animals have a part?” The letter was signed by a list of public figures and celebrities including playwright
George Bernard Shaw and the actress
Sybil Thorndike.
 |
Billy Smart's poster from
the heyday of animals in the circus |
The 1950s were a boom time for circuses in Britain, and a period when animal acts by far outnumbered tightrope walkers and trapeze artists. The two biggest operators,
Billy Smart’s and
Chipperfields, filled their 5000-capacity big tops with hundreds of animals from tigers and polar bears to sea lions and giraffes.
Against that background, the
Captive Animals Protection Society (CAPS) was founded in
1957 to campaign and demonstrate against the use of animals in circuses and the exotic pet trade. In 1965, CAPS president
Lord Somers sponsored a bill in the
House of Lords to prohibit the use of performing animals. It was defeated by just 14 votes.
The 1970s saw the emergence of a new animal rights movement spearheaded by philosopher
Pete Singer. Whereas previous campaigners had focused on animal welfare, the animal rights lobby sought to end the ownership of animals for entertainment, food, experimentation and products such as leather, by granting them equal rights to humans.
In 1984, husband and wife actors
Bill Travers and
Virginia McKenna founded the
Born Free Foundation, named after the 1966 film
Born Free, in which they had starred, to campaign against zoos and circuses.
Since the 1980s, around 200 local authorities have banned performing animals from council-owned show grounds. Circuses were forced to use private land in less accessible locations where animal rights activists often demonstrated at the gates. By the late 90s, most circuses had responded by dispensing with animals. The all-human
Moscow State Circus and
Chinese State Circus became the most successful big top shows in the UK, while
Canada’s globally successful
Cirque du Soleil, which had never featured animals, became the biggest producer in circus history.
An audience for animal acts remained, however.
Zippos toured for ten years as an all-human circus but eventually introduced horses and dogs because of public demand. More recently,
Ashleigh and Pudsey - a dancing dog - was a hit with the public on
Britain’s Got Talent.
In 1988, the
RSPCA sponsored an 18-month study of circuses by
Dr Marthe Kiley-Worthington. The society refused to publish the results because she concluded circuses caused animals no distress and could have benefits for conservation, education and science.
Kiley-Worthington subsequently published her report in the book
Animals in Circuses and Zoos - Chiron’s World? (Aardvark Publishing). In Greek mythology,
Chiron was half man, half horse and symbolises the relationship between humans and animals.
In 1999, undercover film made by
Animal Defenders International (ADI) led to the conviction of
Mary Chipperfield for cruelty to a chimpanzee at the Hampshire farm where she was training animals for film work.
Under pressure to ban circuses from using animals, the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) set up the
Circus Animals Working Group. The resulting report by
Mike Radford, in 2007, concluded that circuses were as capable of meeting the needs of their animals as other captive environments such as zoos, and that there were no welfare reasons for a ban.
 |
My report in The Stage on the Great British Circus
elephant controversy |
Further undercover operations by
ADI, however, resulted in film of elephants being hit at the
Great British Circus in
2009 and a retired elephant, Anne, being beaten by a groom at the winter quarters of
Bobby Roberts Super Circus in
2011. Roberts was given a conditional discharge for failing to prevent the groom in the video from abusing the elephant.
Following the large scale media outcry over
Anne, animal welfare minister
Lord Taylor announced in March 2012 that the government would ban wild animals in circuses from December 2015, with a new licensing and inspection scheme introduced in the interim. Only two companies,
Peter Jolly’s Circus and
Circus Mondao, applied for and were granted licenses, with shows such as Zippos unaffected since they use only domestic animals.
 |
The Stage
- The issue this article
originally appeared in. |
Animal rights groups such as
CAPs criticised the government for delaying the legislation necessary to bring in the ban, and when it emerged in June this year that the
Wild Animals in Circuses Bill won’t be debated before the next election, its future was put in doubt.
After a hundred years of controversy, however, calls for a ban are unlikely to go away, and Britain’s stance on the matter will be closely watched by animal trainers and animal rights groups around the world. Both sides believe a ban in
Britain, where circus was invented, could create a domino effect in
Europe and
America. And with the film and television industries largely dependent on circuses for their trained animals, that could have implications for the future of all animals in entertainment.
The 100-Year Battle To Ban Performing Animals - Timeline
1914 -
Performing Animals Defence League founded.
1921 -
Joseph Kenworthy MP introduces unsuccessful
Performing Animals Prohibition Bill.
1925 -
Performing Animals (Regulation) Act introduces licenses for performing with animals in public.
1957 -
Captive Animals Protection Society founded.
 |
Born Free
The film about a lion that gave its name
to an animal rights group. |
1984 -
Zoo Check Campaign, later Born Free Foundation, founded by
Born Free stars
Virginia McKenna and
Bill Travers.
1980s - Many local councils ban circus animals from municipal show grounds.
1999 -
Mary Chipperfield convicted of cruelty after undercover investigation by
Animal Defenders International (ADI).
2000 - The
Performing Animals Welfare Standards International (PAWSI) founded to promote animal welfare in audio-visual industries.
2006 -
Classical Circus Association founded to represent circuses with animals.
2007 -
DEFRA-commissioned
Radford Report finds no welfare grounds to ban animals in circuses.
2009 -
ADI releases undercover film of elephants being hit at Great British Circus.
2009 -
Bolivia becomes first country to ban all animals in circuses.
2011 - Media outcry over
ADI film of
Anne the elephant being beaten at winter quarters of
Bobby Roberts Super Circus.
2012 - Animal welfare minister
Lord Taylor announces ban on wild animals in circuses in 2015 and
Circus Licensing Scheme in interim.
2013 -
Peter Jolly’s Circus and
Circus Mondao become only two UK circuses licensed to use wild animals.
2014 - With the Government's proposed ban on hold until after next year’s general election, Labour
MP Jim Fitzpatrick introduced a private member's bill under the 10-minute rule on September 3. It was blocked for the
12th time on March 6, 2015.
2015 -
Thomas Chipperfield takes to the road in
Wales with
An Evening With Lions and Tigers.
2016 - The
Welsh Assembly promise a ban on wild animals in travelling shows and appoint
Professor Stephen Harris to carry out a study, which is expected to be complete by February 2016.
2016 - 10 February. Conservative MP Christopher Chope provides first public indication that the government may be reconsidering a ban, when he tells the Commons that the existing licensing regime has rendered a ban unnecessary. (
Details here)
 |
| 2nd Edition out now! |
For more on the ever-thorny subject of animals in the circus, including a behind-the-scenes visit to Circus Mondao, one of only two British circuses licensed to use wild animals, read Circus Mania by Douglas McPherson. "A brilliant account of a vanishing art form," - Mail on Sunday.
Click here to buy Circus Mania from Amazon.
