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Show goes on for the circus fighting to save its animal attractions
MARTIN Burton points to an egg painted with the face of a man wearing a cowboy hat. "That one was made by the actor Paul Newman after he came to be a clown with us for the day," he says, offering me a cup of coffee.
A hefty man, Burton is sitting at his desk in the quirky wooden trailer from where he runs Zippos Circus. Ahead of a visit to Keighley, he is waxing lyrical about the business he has run for the past 25 years and firing anecdotes thick and fast.
"Mick Jagger loves the circus and always comes to see us when we visit Richmond in London. The circus is in my blood. I love this life. I work all day every day, and I'll probably die and keel over right here," he says, patting the top of his desk with his hands.
He stands up and walks over to a cabinet on the wall displaying rows of colourful eggs. It's circus tradition, Burton explains, that once a clown has decided on his own personal "face"or "slap", they patent the idea by painting their face on an egg.
"These are clay but the originals were always painted on real shells," he says, offering me the late great Mr Newman's egg to hold.
Burton sits down again and holds up copies of The Times and Daily Mail. He lets out a deep sigh. Zippos, one of the few circuses in the UK that still uses animals in performances, has been the target of a campaign by animal rights protesters during its current tour of the country, and is the centre of controversy.
Last week, Zippos made national headlines when its clowns were banned by Birmingham City Council from playing trumpets at the end of each performance, the performers apparently falling foul of the Licensing Act 2003 which forbids the playing of live music without a licence. Moreover, according to Advocates for Animals and the Captive Animals' Protection Society, subjecting animals to training and transportation between venues for entertainment is unethical, so they are campaigning for a complete ban on all circuses in the UK from using animals.
All this is making life rather difficult for the circus community who argue that shows are an important part of our cultural heritage and that animals only perform natural behaviours and are kept to the best possible welfare standards. I ask Burton if he's expecting protesters for tonight's performance in Yorkshire.
"I'm not sure, but we had people wearing balaclavas demonstrating outside the big top at Glasgow Green," he replies. Zippos only uses only horses, ponies, dogs and budgies for its shows, and Burton insists that he would never do anything that would compromise their health.
"I'm an old hippy from the '60s and people are entitled to their opinion but they are trying to make the word circus dirty. They (the protesters) have got this badly wrong," he says.
However, in October 2005, a Mori opinion poll commissioned by Animal Defenders International (ADI) found that 80 per cent of people agree that the use of wild animals in circuses should be banned, while 65 per cent thought that all performing animals should be banned. As campaign director for Advocates for Animals, Ross Minett is a vociferous opponent of Zippos and firmly believes public opinion is on his side.
"Horses find the constant loading and unloading and stressful. They spend long periods of time in small containers and are held in inappropriate temporary enclosures while on tour. Animals suffer stress and disrupted behaviour patterns due to a constantly changing environment. With some circuses, there can be inappropriate social grouping of animals and a lack of social contact for social animals such as dogs," he says.
Minett points to a number of scientific studies that, he says, back his position. In a 2006 report by ADI, called Animals in Travelling Circuses: The Science on Suffering, researchers said the immune system of horses can be compromised by the effects of transportation which could result in increased susceptibility to infectious diseases.
The report quoted equine expert, Paul McGreevy, from his book Equine Behaviour – a Guide for Veterinarians and Equine Scientists. He wrote: "Efforts expended by horses as they continually adjust their posture during transit reflect both muscular and emotional stress related to road conditions and drivers' behaviour.
ADI said that Zippos had been observed in April 2006, and that
its horses and ponies had spent nearly five hours on transporters – from being loaded to being unloaded. The report said these timings were contrary to an early statement from the circus read out in the House of Commons, in which Burton said the "average journey time takes one hour, and the time the horses wait in the horse transporter while the stables are built up is less than one hour. The whole process is over in less than two hours".
On another journey in 2003, ADI added, the 11 miles from Chiswick to Kingsbury took Zippos 40 minutes but the animals remained in their transporters for two hours and 12 minutes. Minett says the findings are crystal clear, but last year, a report for the government by The Circus Working Group said there was "little evidence" the conditions these animals were kept in were "better or worse" than other captive environments. The result delighted circuses such as Zippos, but animal rights campaigners were furious and said the report was given a restricted remit.
There are fewer than 50 animals involved in travelling circuses in the UK, including a retired but still touring elephant, seven tigers, five lions, a number of llamas, zebras and snakes.
Burton says the report negated what he regards as a prolonged campaign of smears linking circuses with cruelty.
"A group of people from both sides of the argument spent 18 months working with Defra to formulate a scientific study. World-respected academic specialists reviewed the evidence on both sides of this debate; they concluded that animals are as well looked after in circuses as in other similar environments. They also agreed that transport – often the subject of wild accusations by activists – causes the circus animals no problem at all, as they are accustomed to it in the same way as humans are accustomed to car journeys. The academics also stated that there are no scientific grounds for banning any animal from travelling circuses. I am an animal lover and so are the people who work in my circus," Burton insists.
He takes me to meet Tom Roberts, who owns and trains the four part-Arabian palamino horses – Omega, Cartier, Rolex and Bronze – who will perform in Yorkshire for Zippos. They are magnificent to watch as they train in the ring and Roberts, whose family has worked in circuses for 11 generations, is offended at the notion these creatures are mistreated.
"The horses are regularly inspected by independent experts," he says. "Council animal welfare officers will make routine and often unannounced inspections of the circus. As the circus appears in parks operated by many different local authorities throughout the circus season, the animals may be inspected many times – far more than the average horse whether kept as a working animal or as a private pet. The condition of the circus horses has consistently won praise and is widely acknowledged. I love these horses and work with the International League for the Protection of Horses."
Back at his trailer, Burton makes some coffee and sits back down
at his desk.
"This argument will rage on, no doubt," he says. " It's animal welfare versus animal rights. I believe it is acceptable to use horses, ponies and budgies for entertainment as long as they do not suffer in any way. And they don't.
"The animal rights position is that animals should not be used by, or regarded as the property of, humans at all. I disagree with that and I want my circus to continue for another 25 years."
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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