Public Health & Safety

Public Safety

Public safety is jeopardized when wild animals, subjected to difficult living and travel conditions, are allowed to perform in close proximity to the public, without adequate caging, stand-off barriers, and appropriate emergency equipment protocols. Wild animals can be unpredictable; their natural, instinctive behaviors can surface at any time. The danger can be reduced, but it can never be eliminated.

According to elephant trainers Alan Roocroft and Donald Atwell Zoll in their book Managing Elephants, an Introduction to their Training and Management, approximately 100 deaths have occurred in circuses and zoos since 1980 due to elephant attacks, while another 50 or so injury causing incidents occur annually in North America. As well, each year a number of elephants are destroyed because they are deemed too dangerous to work with.

Despite safety concerns, circuses and other traveling shows continue to allow elephants and other potentially dangerous animals to perform in front of the public with few safety precautions.

As an added revenue generator, many shows even offer animal rides to the public. With virtually no restrictions on the entry of animals into Canada, many acts criss-cross the border at will. Animals that have proven dangerous in other jurisdictions may become featured performers in circuses touring Canada. Numerous instances of animals reacting in unanticipated manners have been documented - usually with tragic consequences.

Public Health

Another serious public health and safety risk associated with animals in travelling circuses hit the headlines in August 1996. At that time, two elephants named Joyce and Hattie, owned by John Cuneo of Hawthorn Corporation, collapsed and died within three days of each other from a strain of tuberculosis that can affect humans. As of early 1997, officials of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that fourteen of 18 elephants owned by Hawthorn Corp. tested positive for TB.

Necropsy reports showed that Joyce and Hattie had only 10-20 percent functioning lung tissue when they died, yet they were still made to perform close to the time of their deaths. Photographs taken by the Elephant Alliance of California show two severely emaciated elephants five months before they died.

In Canada, the Garden Bros. Circus (which operates throughout central and eastern Canada), often tours with elephants from Hawthorn. In 1994, the Toronto Sun newspaper featured a photograph on March 2nd of a "30-yr old Asian elephant named Joyce" giving a ride to a small child at the Garden Bros. performance at the SkyDome. The particular strain of tuberculosis involved in the Hawthorne animals - mycobacterium tuberculosis - is contagious to humans. Children are the most susceptible to the strain, and if infected, could develop tubercular meningitis. It is evident that by banning animal acts in entertainment, municipalities are not only ensuring the welfare of animals, but also of their constituents.