State News misrepresents facts concerning circus

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Unfortunately, the March 5 article Royal Hanneford Circus should remain on campus (SN 3/5) misrepresented the facts surrounding Royal Hanneford coming to MSU. I think it is important that readers are informed of the misrepresentations.

First of all, the new policy issued by MSU does not affect animal welfare. Providing a license and having a veterinarian on call does not affect the welfare issues, which I will outline below. Secondly, Students Promoting Animal Rights, or SPAR, still has not been informed about how the new policy was created or who created it. Third, SPAR has been actively talking to the Board of Trustees and MSU administrators since the beginning of the school year about the circus coming this spring. Finally, as outlined below, animals with Royal Hanneford have been recently subjected to abuses, and Royal Hanneford has done nothing to assure that these abuses are not continuing.

Royal Hanneford contracts their animals from a variety of places, which has included companies with horrific animal welfare records such as the Hawthorn Corporation and Carson and Barnes Circus. Ned, an elephant forced to perform for Royal Hanneford, was confiscated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, in 2008 due to severe neglect. He was transferred to a sanctuary but was unable to recover from the treatment he had suffered in the circus and died six months later.

In 2004, the Hawthorn Corporation admitted guilt on 19 charges of violating the Animal Welfare Act. Among others, the violations included failing to establish and maintain programs of veterinary care, failing to handle elephants in a manner that did not cause physical harm, unnecessary discomfort, behavioral stress and trauma and failing to handle elephants so there was minimal risk of harm to the animals and the public.

The USDA has cited Carson and Barnes Circus numerous times for failure to provide veterinary care and minimum space, for failure to provide shelter from the elements, for failure to maintain transport trailers, for unsound fencing that failed to protect spectators and the animals, for failure to keep animal care records and many other violations.

Not only do circus animals suffer physical abuse, but also emotional abuse. Even if bred in captivity, tigers, bears, elephants and other circus animals are not domestic animals. While in captivity, they have the same urges to perform natural behaviors as their counterparts in the wild. Unfortunately, almost every natural behavior is denied to them.

In the wild, elephants live in large, sociable herds and walk up to 25 miles every day. Most other wild animals found in circus settings, including lions and tigers, are also on the move in their native habitats. In the circus, animals spend most of their time in cages or chains. In addition, family units are ripped apart in the circus. In the wild, females remain with their mothers for life. A male will not leave his family until around 14 years old. In the circus, baby elephants are ripped away from their mothers to be used to earn a profit. This is extremely painful for both the mothers and babies.

Circus animals are intelligent. For example, elephants are capable of tool use and modification, capable of empathy, are self-aware and have an understanding of death and mourn herd members who die. In such intelligent animals, this life of extreme confinement leads to stereotypical behavior, such as tigers pacing for hours on end and elephants swaying or head-bobbing.

Stereotypical behaviors are used in animal welfare studies as indicators of poor welfare; the behaviors demonstrating that the animals are frustrated because the conditions they are kept in are insufficient. I hope that you will visit www.MoreBeautifulWild.com to read more about circuses.

Katherine Groff,

fisheries and wildlife graduate student

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