Animals in
entertainment
Lion Govani was found severely neglected
in the small cage car of a Spanish circus.
Exploited for entertainment
Who hasn’t seen the images: lions jumping through hoops in a circus, a tiger ‘acting’ in a movie, a dressed-up Barbary macaque that has to have his picture taken with tourists…
At AAP we take in many animals that have been exploited to entertain people, such as the badly neglected lion Govani. He spent his life performing in a circus. Govani was malnourished, covered in wounds and had even bitten off a piece of his own tail due to stress. AAP is committed to combating this kind of animal suffering and is fighting for a European ban on wild animals in circuses.
Animal cruelty
The circus is still a common form of entertainment in Europe. Thousands of wild animals, such as primates, tigers and lions, are still forced to perform and entertain people.
This may look harmless to the public, but animals don’t display such unnatural behaviour without reason—cruel training methods are often behind it.
Before and after performances, the animals are often confined alone for long periods in cramped circus trailers, which are also used to transport them when the circus moves to a new location.
Incidents
In our rescue centres we see what this life as an “entertainer” does to an animal: the vast majority of tigers, lions and primates from circuses have health problems, behavioural problems and / or have been neglected. For example, they are very thin, lick themselves excessively, have deformed bones, or are declawed and have their teeth pulled.
It would also be much better for public safety to ban wild animals in circuses, because accidents happen regularly. For example, from 1997 to 2021, there have been 478 incidents involving 889 wild circus animals. Examples include elephants falling on the audience stand, tigers attacking their trainer, or accidents on the highway causing wild animals to roam free.
The solution
We at AAP are working hard on a European ban on wild animals in circuses. Partly thanks to AAP’s efforts, the Netherlands already has a ban on exotic mammals in circuses in place since 2015. A good number of other EU countries, thanks in part to the pressure of AAP and other animal welfare organisations, also have imposed a (partial) ban.
Time for a ban
As long as circuses with wild animals are allowed to perform in some EU countries, the problems remain throughout the EU. The animals are still transported through other European countries on their way to the countries where they are still allowed to perform. High time for a ban in the entire European Union!
Results
Curious about which countries already have a ban on wild animals in circuses, and which do not? Check the map to see the current status per EU country.
Govani was in the worst shape. Not only was he extremely thin, but he was also declawed, his teeth were knocked out, and from all the stress he had bitten off a piece of his own tail.
He was able to recover at AAP. Unfortunately, we had to euthanize Govani in 2023.
