Saturday 4 May 2013

Bad Circus

Meep! ^.^
Yesterday when we got back from England, we had to go shopping in town and...
Ok, I'll zoom forward a bit...
We drove past this circus, which looked pretty ok, as circuses normally are. There was the big tent and loads of truck/lorry things. There was this big lorry which said "Bassin Hippopotame" which simply means "Hippopotamus Basin" - they were keeping a hippopotamus in a truck?!
Mum had to keep driving though, so we couldn't stop. But I did see that there were some ostriches, horses and llamas. 
A bit later we stopped to get some petrol, and I saw these posters for that circus:

Roughly translated, it says they have a real hippopotamus there, lions (from Kenya) and clowns.
I thought that keeping a hippopotamus in a truck was serious animal cruelty, so I begged mum to drive back past. She said she wouldn't go there specifically, but if we happened to go back past, we could stop for 5 minutes. We did.

SilverDawn and I got out of the car, and went to see if we could see anything. First, there was this bison (or something similar anyway).
 Wow. That is a tiny place to keep something that big! >.<

Then we went to find the hippopotamus truck. (We were behind this big fence, by the way). 
First we went past this cage, and I thought I saw a lion or something in it but then I decided it was just a piece of sacking - that cage was way too small for one lion.
Anyway, here's the hippopotamus truck:

 We could hear him (or her...) snorting really angrily inside. 

SilverDawn started crying, so we started to go back to the car. We saw that big cage again and that was the most horrible thing...
 Yes. A TIGER. A real, live tiger. AND THERE WERE THREE IN THAT CAGE!!!
(I took a photo of the entire cage - which was about twice the size of what you can see above - but it didn't come out for some reason...) 
Three tigers in a not even 10 metre squared cage!!!
Dawn started crying even more, and I have to admit I was on the verge of tears... :'(
How can anyone be so cruel?!
 I was just looking up the animals in circuses regulations for France, and I found this law:
  1. les félins (tigres, lions, pumas et panthères)  Les cirques devront déployer des cages de détente de 60 mètres carrées minimum et les animaux devront être à l’extérieur 4 heures par jour au moins. De plus les félins devront pouvoir se faire les griffes et avoir la possibilité de se baigner.
  2. les macaques et babouins
    6 m2 par animal (jusqu’à 3 animaux, 2 m2 par animal supplémentaire), des installations devront être installées afin de permettre aux animaux de grimper et de se cacher. Les animaux seront conduits à l’extérieur tous les jours (soit en laisse, soit dans des cages)
  3. les éléphants
    installation intérieure de 2,5 mètres sur 4 par animal et un paddock extérieur d’au moins 250 mètres carrés pour un maximum de 3 animaux (20 m2 de plus par animal). Les attaches restent autorisées.
  4. Les hippopotames
    Installations intérieures d’au moins 30 m2 par animal et un paddock extérieur d’au moins 200 m2.  L’animal devra avoir accès en permanence à une piscine de 30 m2 à une température de 22°c.
Translated:

1. Felines (tigers, lions, pumas and leopards) The circus must provide a cage of at least 60 metres squared minimum per animal and the animals should be outside for at least 4 hours a day. Also the felines should have something to scratch their claws on and they must have water constantly available; for them to swim in and drink.
2. Macaques and baboons These must have at least 6m2 per animal (up to 3 animals, 2m2 per extra animal), they must have climbing branches etc installed so they can climb and hide. They must be taken outside each day, either on a lead or in a cage.
3. Elephants They must have an inside space and an outside space - in a paddock of 250 metres squared for a maximum of 3 animals (20m2 for every extra animal). They are allowed to be tied up.
4. Hippopotami They need an inside enclosure of at least 30m2 per animal, and an outside paddock of at least 200m2. The hippopotamus must always have access to a pool of 30m2 with a temperature of 22°c.

All in all, our dear little circus was utterly breaking the rules.
Mum is going to call the police later ^.^
 So, if you ever see anything that definitely (or just possibly) needs the attention of an animal welfare organisation, don't hesitate to call the police or something! Even if it's probably nothing :3

~Kinyonga
O.O long post...

7 comments:

  1. People are sick in what they will do for money--bravo to you, SD and your Mum for standing up for them!!

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  2. Good job! And I feel bad for those animals!

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  3. awful! not the post, just the way the animals were treated... :'S

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  4. Those animals are gonna die if they are treated badly!

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    Replies
    1. Those 3 tigers don't have any space in that cage!

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  5. Tigers are actually endangered. I thought no one was supposed to keep them...

    I'm so against circuses.

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    1. Ikr...

      I'm against animal-keeping circuses >.<

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