My first and last day at the circus

Q&A Helen Harrington

The trip to the circus was to have been a special birthday treat.

My imagination was full of images of glamorous women who sailed carefree above the crowds on death-defying trapezes, wearing tiny sequined costumes, and clowns with elaborately painted faces, wild hair and oversized shoes that constantly tripped them up.

Like most children, I was passionately fond of animals. The chance to see rare creatures like the elephants and tigers only added to the anticipation.

But when the ring suddenly filled with tigers and a man with a large moustache wearing baggy trousers and a turban ran behind them, cracking a large whip over their backs and driving them into a cage with six stools, everything changed.

The tigers snarled and roared and flicked huge paws in his direction.

The smell of sawdust, and the wild animal odour, filled the arena.

At first I thought that the tigers’ anger was part of the show, that their trainer would scratch them under the chin like we did with our cat, give them a treat and they would join in the fun.

Then the trainer put a match to three enormous hoops, which promptly burst into flames.

Now the tigers looked scared, apart from the biggest, who tried to jump off his stool, until the trainer gave him a couple of hard whacks with the whip and, roaring and spitting, the huge beast was driven back.

I started to feel sick, and despite my best efforts, I began to cry.

I told my parents that I wanted to go home.

A woman sitting next to us said, “You don’t want to go now love, he’s going to make them jump through those hoops in a moment. You don’t want to miss that”.

But by then, I did very much want to miss that.

The whole event had rapidly disintegrated into a nightmare scenario, where nothing was as I had thought it should be.

I felt a complex mixture of emotions, shame, anger and an overwhelming longing to run into the ring and open the door to that cage, so the tigers could get out of there.

I was whisked outside before I could disgrace us all by throwing up, and there was an enormous elephant, tied to a post and with thick chains immobilising its front legs.

It was weaving from side to side and swinging its head backwards and forwards.

I’ve never been to a circus since.

And I became vehemently opposed to the use of animals — and particularly wild animals — as objects of amusement and entertainment, a view I still hold today.

Now there is a long-overdue move to develop an all-island policy on the use of wild animals in circuses.

It follows a proposal in the UK to ban the use of all non-domesticated animals in travelling circuses, effective from Dec 1, 2015.

In addition to the degrading routines that circus animals are forced to perform, and the lengthy periods of coercion required to produce the desired effect, they are also subjected to constant travelling from site to site for 10 months of the year.

In an era where ethically run wildlife parks provide us with ample opportunities to engage with animals, keeping wild animals captive for their lifetime for their entertainment value is surely an outdated and inappropriate way

of engaging with them.

The good news is that out of the seven circuses that regularly toured Ireland, only four now use animals, preferring instead to utilise the considerable talents of their human performers.

And animal rights groups routinely gather to protest, whenever circuses still using animal acts appear.

Helen Harrington of animal welfare group ARAN is based in Clonakilty.

Members of ARAN were out in force recently when a circus came to the town.

I spoke to Helen about ARAN’s work.

*How did you first become involved with ARAN?

>>“I’ve always had a great regard for animals, but I think it really hit home when I saw a couple of camels at the end of Clonakilty High Street.

Clonakilty, a very pro-active town, recently staged a huge Jungle City event.

You can still see wonderful replicas of lions, tigers and elephants dotted about town now.

It was done to celebrate wildlife and to encourage people to think about the welfare of endangered species.

And yet, Courtneys, a circus that features some of these same species, was welcomed into town.”

*What is your own background?

>>I work for the Brothers of Charity, with people who have a range of intellectual disabilities, helping them to develop their personal and communication skills.

I also have a background in advocacy, which stands me in good stead when it comes to this issue.

I joined ARAN two years ago, because it’s an organisation I have tremendous respect for.

Its policies are non-confrontational and entirely peaceful.”

*What sort of response do you tend to get when you are demonstrating?

>>It’s been very favourable. People beep their horns, wave. We give out leaflets, talk to people, and generally do what we can to present the facts about the lives of circus animals.

Yet, the Arts Council still supports circuses which feature animals, and I cannot see how tigers jumping through hoops, lions living in lorries, is considered to be art. We’re certainly not anti-circus, just anti circuses that use animals.”

*Are the winds of change really beginning to blow?

>>Yes. Outfits like Cirque du Soleil which feature only talented human performers illustrate that there’s a better, exciting way of doing things, and Fossetts only has ponies now. But I’d like to see an outright ban, and for Clonakilty to extend the ethos of the recent Random Acts of Kindness Festival to these unfortunate animals.

But in the end, it’s up to the public to make their feelings known, do their homework, find out what life is really like for these animals, perhaps phone the circus they are planning to visit, ask if they have animals and if they do, let them know that they won’t be attending.

www.aran.ie