Calls for Irish authorities to impound circus animals

international | animal rights | press release Friday May 26, 2006 00:15 by Nuala Donlon. Irish press Officer - Captive Animals Protection Society (CAPS) info at captiveanimals dot org 086 3985761

More Circus Blunders!

The Captive Animals Protection Society (CAPS) has today called on the Department of Agriculture to impound the animals currently traveling with Circus Vegas, the Courtney owned outfit which has hit the headlines again following an incident last night on the M50.

It is believed that the beast wagon carrying the elephants had a blowout as the circus was in transit between Wicklow and Stepaside. This same beast wagon, again carrying the show’s two elephants, was involved in a fatal accident on the Tuam Road in Galway in April when a mother and her daughter were killed when the wagon became detached from the cabin.

Calls for Irish authorities to impound circus animals

The Captive Animals Protection Society (CAPS) has today called on the Department of Agriculture to impound the animals currently traveling with Circus Vegas, the Courtney owned outfit which has hit the headlines again following an incident last night on the M50.

It is believed that the beast wagon carrying the elephants had a blowout as the circus was in transit between Wicklow and Stepaside. This same beast wagon, again carrying the show’s two elephants, was involved in a fatal accident on the Tuam Road in Galway in April when a mother and her daughter were killed when the wagon became detached from the cabin.

“Once again the safety of the unfortunate circus animals and indeed the public has been compromised by John and Stephen Courtney,” said Nuala Donlon, Irish spokesperson for CAPS. “Given the appalling safety record of Circus Vegas, it’s time the Department of Agriculture stepped in and took these animals into safety”, Ms. Donlon continued.

Following last week’s discovery of a circus monkey which had been abandoned in a van without food or water for over a week, CAPS and other campaigning groups are growing increasingly concerned for the welfare of animals in Irish circuses, given that no government department wants to take responsibility for the welfare of these animals. The Minister for Agriculture has, in answer to a Dail question, stated that her Department has no role in monitoring the welfare of circus animals. Questions to the Department of Agriculture in relation to other incidents involving circus animals have met with complete silence

In January 2006, CAPS contacted the Department of Agriculture and Food (DAF) with an urgent appeal to check the conditions of a rhino and hippo transported from Italy to appear at Circus Vegas in Ireland. The lorry they were travelling in was involved in a road traffic accident and later broke down, leaving the animals stranded at the roadside. Not only did we receive no response to that appeal to DAF, we have been waiting for two months for them to respond to our subsequent complaint.

Last July a 5-year-old girl was bitten by a monkey at Circus New York in Tralee. Three other people came forward to say they were also bitten by the monkey on different occasions the same year. The monkey then ‘disappeared’. Again, there was no official investigation into the incidents.

How many more such incidents have to occur before this government takes action to protect the safety of both circus animals and the public?

For further information please contact:

Nuala Donlon

086 - 3985761