Posts Tagged ‘captive animals’

Why won’t the UK Government ban wild animals in circuses?

Monday, February 6th, 2012

By Nicola Gothard

In light of today’s news that the Greek government has banned the use of all animals in circuses, it would be timely to explore this situation in the UK. Greece joins a growing number of countries to prohibit or limit the use of animals in circuses. National measures have been adopted in Bolivia, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Peru, Portugal, Sweden, Singapore, Costa Rica, India and Israel. So, why is the UK, a nation of animal lovers, lagging behind not only European countries but also third world countries not normally known for their animal welfare standards? Despite a unanimous vote in the House of Commons in favour of a ban on June 23rd 2011, the UK government has failed to implement a ban on wild animals in circuses.

The Tory led government appears adamant that there won’t be a ban but the reasons for their position remain unclear. There are very few circuses in UK that even have performing wild animals and unlike fox hunting – visiting the circus is not a favourite past time of Tory MPs and the general elite. Perhaps there is a connection between the Conservatives and powerful people in the circus industry or perhaps they view any measures to improve animal welfare to be another affront on their lifestyle and another step on the slippery slope to ruining all of their country pursuits?

Initially the government said that a ban might be an illegal act under European Union law as it could be seen to contravene the European Services Directive. The European Commission clarified their position to concerned MEPs, stating that in theory a ban could be against the Services Directive but it could also be justified by ‘overriding reasons of public interest’ and that public concern for animal welfare is a legally valid reason under this exemption. The British government said that there was already a legal challenge against Austria after they banned wild animals in Circuses and they would wait to see what the outcome of this challenge would be. In December 2011, the Austrian Constitutional Court in Vienna announced that it had thrown out an application by Circus Krone to overturn Austria’s ban on wild animals in circuses – therefore negating another of the governments arguments.

So what is public opinion in the UK on this matter? In 2011, an independent poll carried out by YouGov revealed that 72% of the public backed the ban with only 8% against. Furthermore, In 2010, Defra announced the results of their 2009 public consultation on animals in circuses, which resulted in a huge 94.5% public support for a ban.

All the arguments against a ban have been answered; by the European Commission, by the Austrian courts, by public opinion and by a unanimous vote in parliament.  If like me you think the government should get their act together and take in to account the opinions of democratically elected MPs and the general public they are supposed to represent, then please write to your MP and ask them to sign EDM 2563 directing the Government to use its powers under section 12 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to introduce a regulation banning the use of all wild animals in circuses to take effect by 1 July 2012.

You can see if your MP has already signed here

Find out how to contact your MP here

Read more about this campaign here

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Posted in Animals & Politics, Captive Wild Animals | 1 Comment »

A tale of volunteering in Indonesia

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

Contributed by, Nicola Gothard

Firstly, apologies for my lengthy absence from this e-zine.  I was in Sulawesi, Indonesia for 2 months volunteering at an animal rescue centre. Then upon my return I was mentally and physically exhausted and spent the last few weeks sleeping metaphorically and physically. However with a rising mojo I am back! Sometimes we all just need a little time out, especially in fields where you care deeply about issues that are so wide-spread and commonplace that it can tie you up in knots trying to figure out where to begin.

I digress, back to April when I went to volunteer at Tasikoki Animal Rescue Center. Now despite my passion for animal welfare, up until this point I had never volunteered in the ‘field’  unless you count my local RSPCA cat shelter. It was a total shock to the system which wasn’t helped by the severe sun burn and heat stroke that struck me on my stop-over in Singapore. 

The first night there was unbearably hot and I didn’t sleep a wink. So I was up and showered by the time the alarm clock went off at 5.30 am! Simon took us on our first day to show us the ropes. It was hot and tiring.  There are a lot of hills in Tasikoki. I was also terrified of the Macaques. They were stressed and scared – much like myself.  I was shocked by the conditions that they were living in. I thought to myself that their enclosures wouldn’t pass a lab inspection back in the UK. Aside from two release groups in Large open enclosures, the other macaques were kept either in solitary cages and slept on bars or in what I called cell block H where they live in small concrete enclosures with chicken wire walls. I couldn’t decide which was worse, the macaques in solitary looked worse off because of the bars and isolation but they were a lot calmer than those in cell block H. I think this was because in the cell block the macaques had no visual escape from each other, which caused a lot of stress and aggression. (more…)

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Posted in Animal Welfare in Action, Global Perspectives on Animal Welfare | 3 Comments »

The sad truth behind the dolphins smile:

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Contributed by, Nicola Gothard, MSc

A world of animal cruelty and endangering wild dolphin populations belie the fun and frivolity of dolphinaria and swim-with-dolphin programs!

 The captive dolphin industry cannot sustain itself. This is because captive dolphins don’t live long and they are difficult to breed in captivity. This is due the inadequate living environment and subsequent poor welfare.

 Therefore, the only way to meet the demand for dolphinaria and swim with dolphin programs is to capture wild born dolphins. For example, In december 2009, the Soloman Islands exported nine dolphins to Malaysia, bringing the total number captured and exported in the past 26 months to 55 animals from the soloman islands alone. This is a lucrative business and dolphin-catching businesses are springing up all over the place.

 The Animal Welfare Institute have repeatedly asked CITES to intervene because the trade is unsustainable, a concern shared by the scientific community.  The international whaling commission have expressed concerns that the number of dolphins they allow to be exported every year is not supported by scientific evidence as being a sustainable number. The IUCN have even appealed against exports to Dubai but no action was taken by CITES. The captive-dolphin industry is a powerful force!  

 Besides the sustainability issue, there are serious animal welfare implications involved with confining wild animals to captivity and forcing them to perform for and interact with people all day. Wild animals are naturally fearful of humans and become frustrated when they cannot perform their natural behavioural repertoire. This leads to many abnormal behaviours which develop in response the stress imposed by captivity, these may involve repetitive swimming patterns, self harming or even aggression. A fellow traveller on my parents’ vacation was bitten by a dolphin in a swim-with program just the other day. Who knows how many other cases occur around the world every year?

 Wild caught dolphins will not eat dead fish at first and they starve until they are willing to do so. The trainers then train them by withholding food until the dolphins perform. Captive dolphins are confined to tanks 1 millionth of the size of their home-range in the wild. Dolphins use echolocation to explore their environment and catch fish; this has no use in captivity because the environment is barren and the fish are dead. Beside the physical torment imposed by captivity – the emotional is just as bad. Dolphins are social creatures forming tight bonds with other members of their family pod. When we take dolphins from the wild we take this away from them – all for your entertainment. So tell me, was it worth it?

 

Would you rather see dolphins like this?

Or this?......... I know which one they would choose!

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Posted in Animals & Tourism, Captive Wild Animals | No Comments »

An interesting point of view from the USA

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Sharing with you a letter written to the Editor of the Chicago Daily Herald. Perhaps this woman has a point…

“The woman who was killed at Seaworld is a tragedy. However, this story will keep repeating itself with different characters until Seaworld, zoos, aquariums, circuses and similar exhibits stop using wild animals for human entertainment and allow wild animals to remain wild and live their lives in their natural habitat.

Of course, there are those “experts” such as Jack Hanna who say it’s important to keep wild animals in captivity, because we learn so much about wildlife this way. Really? How in the world do we acquire knowledge about wild animals when they don’t behave naturally in an artificial world with intensively confined spaces? According to Seaworld, Tilikum, the killer whale who has now killed three people, must live in isolation due to his aggressive behavior. What does this teach us about the social structure of killer whales and how they interact with their family/pod when one has to be confined alone? All we learn is what happens to wild animals who’ve had enough.”

Jodie Wiederkehr

Chicago

Reiterating the views of our article on elephant trekking, do you agree? Ignorant tourism or educational experience? Please leave your comments below.

An organisation that works to keep animals in the wild is Born Free- find out more about their work here.

Source: Chicago Daily Herald

Anna Claxton

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Posted in Animals & Tourism | No Comments »