12/08/05 With the Ban Against Circuses
Animal Friends, Life society and eco group Osjecki zeleni invite to a protest against the circus with animal acts
Animal Friends' activists, with the great support of other organizations and conscientious citizens, protested against the circus with animal acts Gärtner in Krizevci, Dugo Selo, Velika Gorica, Samobor, Karlovac, Umag, Pula, Labin, Zadar, Sibenik, Vir, Sisak, and Slavonski Brod.
After, to the shock of the public, the circus spent a whole three weeks on the Island of Vir which doesn't have waterworks, Gärtner continued its tour by returning to the continental part of Croatia and arrived to Osijek. Even though we believe that many citizens of Osijek are aware of the cruelty of the circus with animal acts, we announce a protest and invite them all to show their compassion to the animals of this circus.
The protest will take place on Thursday, December 8, 2005, in front of the circus Gärtner on the left shore of the Drava river, behind the parking lot Copacabana, beginning at 3:30 P.M. Holding banners, shouting slogans, and handing out leaflets, activists of Animal Friends, Life and Osjecki zeleni will invite the public to boycott circus shows and the cruelty hidden behind them.
A press conference on the topic of the necessity to ban circuses with animal acts and the protest against the infamous Gärtner Circus, which the organizations Osjecki zeleni and Life have been familiar with ever since the Brijuni Elephants affair in the year 2000, will be held on Friday, December 2, 2005, 11 A.M., in Bastion, Tvrda.
Ethical awareness of the citizens regarding the animals suffering in circuses is growing daily, and is reflected in the decisions of the city councils which follow the will of the citizens and take care of the reputation of their city.
We hope that after decisions on banning circuses with animal acts in 15 towns - Mursko Sredisce, Varazdin, Donji Miholjac, Velika Gorica, Rovinj, Split, Delnice, Gospic, Kraljevica, Cakovec, Prelog, Ploce, Ozalj, Klanjec, and Bjelovar - circuses with animal acts won't be welcome in Osijek either. Thus Osijek will follow the examples of Venice, Vienna, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro and hundreds of other cities worldwide.
World famous circus Cirque du Soleil from Quebec has shown that circuses can function without animal acts. "We do not agree with training animals to perform tricks. We prefer giving that job to human beings." said Pierre Parisien, a member of the renewed group Cirque du Soleil from Quebec, which has developed a circus renaissance all over the world. "Those are animals, not performers. They should be in the jungle," said the art director of the group. "We don't agree with the way the animals are trained and I'm not sure that elephants and tigers have to spend half of their lives in cages and performing tricks around the world," he said. "We won't have animals in our shows ever again."
There are no legal standards by which the treatment of animals, their transport and a number of acts they perform could be controlled. These animals are forced to traveling, various climates, performing in shows and captivity, and besides the physical torture they have to go through during the process of training, they are also under a lot of stress due to the fact that they are taken away from their natural habitats and brought to the world of "fun," or in other words, for them, a world of constant captivity and performing meaningless acts. They are unlucky victims of human manipulation whose physical, social and other needs are ignored by those who profit by their exploitation.