Circuses with exotic animals to be banned

Jordan World Circus allowed one last show this summer.
by MARK NIELSEN

Citizen staff

The days of circuses featuring exotic animals performing in Prince George are numbered.

City council voted 6-1 Monday night to go ahead with a bylaw banning such shows from city limits in answer to a campaign spearheaded by local B.C. Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals representative Kathi Travers.

Travers, who also writes a weekly animals column for the Citizen, contends the animals are forced to do things they wouldn't normally do in the wild.

"Taking an animal and asking a tiger to jump through a fiery hoop, what's natural about that? It's almost like the olden days when Ringling used to have the sideshows where they had people disabilities and we'd go and say that's entertainment.," she said in an interview Tuesday.




"How can we say an animal being degraded is entertaining?"

Travers, who used to inspect zoos and circuses before she moved to Prince George also said circuses treat their animals poorly.

Travers said the move means Prince George has joined the ranks of 20 other B.C. communities who've banned the shows.

"It shows that we're just as progressive as they are," she said.

Pending final passage of the bylaw, the Jordan World Circus will be able to perform one last time this summer because it's already booked for CN Centre.

Only Coun. Glen Scott voted against the move.

Scott has said he's toured the backlots where circuses park their trailers and found no evidence of ill treatment.

"The cages were clean, they had a covered place to eat and lots of water and, as the trainer said, 'why would I abuse or neglect an animal that I make a living off of?'" Scott said. "To me it just seems we were following what other cities had done."

For many the circus is the only way many people in Prince George will ever get to see a live lion or tiger, said Scott. Travers maintained there are better ways to expose people to exotic animals, including the internet and trips to foreign countries.

"Let them go on a safari to India if they want to see a tiger," she said.

Reference:princegeorgecitizen