11/16/09 Ban of Circuses in Karlovac
THE CITY OF KARLOVAC
Att. Mayor Damir Jelic
Ivana Banjavcica 9
47000 Karlovac
November 16, 2009
Subject: Ban of circuses with animals in the city of Karlovac
Dear Mr. Jelic,
We are writing to you in regard to the inconceivable decision of the city of Karlovac to allow Circus Safari with domestic and wild animals to perform in the Karlovac area.
This decision is even more inconceivable because following our request and according to the Article 48 of the Law on Local and Regional Self-Government (Official Gazette No. 33/01, 60/01, and 129/05) and Article 55 of the Statute of the city of Karlovac (Glasnik grada Karlovca No. 9/01, 9/02, 8/03, and 2/06) on its conference held on March 16, 2006 the City Council of Karlovac decided to ban circuses or other groups that have programs with domestic or wild animals species.
Not only that we as organization are shocked by this decision, which violates the decision taken independently by the city council, but this kind of disregard of law shocks the citizens of Karlovac and Croatia as well.
Precisely because such examples of disregard of law (whether local or national), the citizens of Karlovac and the Republic of Croatia lose their faith in their heads of the city and the leadership – in this particular case the city of Karlovac – elected by the very same citizens, because they trusted their credibility, honesty and consistency.
That being said, we are asking for your urgent statement whether the city of Karlovac wants to be on the list of the towns in Republic of Croatia which with their ethically and morally correct decisions banned all circuses that exploit animals either for acts or for keeping them as exhibits, or the city of Karlovac does not want to be any longer on the list of 30 Croatian towns which clearly said NO to animal cruelty.
Cruelty as such cannot be seen by the naked eye and therefore not proven. Neither visitors of the circus, nor veterinarian inspectors and thus nor the city fathers can see how much pain, traumas, stress and misery is hidden behind the training of animals for animal acts, their lives spent in constant captivity instead of freedom, and continuous transport from city to city, country to country during all weather conditions.
We are asking the city council of Karlovac to respect the wishes of its citizens and urgently take a decision which will clearly and unambiguously ban circuses with all animals in the Karlovac area. This will prevent the future public embarrassment of Karlovac but also Animal Friends Croatia which publicly in Croatia and abroad promotes Karlovac as a city that, guided by the principles of ethics and morality, opposes to exploitation of any animal for the purpose of human entertainment.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards,
Luka Oman
President of Animal Friends
