Jinan circus cancelled after animal rights activists call for boycott
Activists claim circus cancellation is a victory for growing animal welfare movement in China
A circus featuring animal performances was cancelled after citizens called for a boycott and tipped off authorities, which activists have billed as a victory for a growing animal welfare movement in China.
The promotional material for Jinan Animal Carnival Festival’s suggested the shows would have bears lying on their backs twirling flaming rods, tigers riding horses and a monkey riding a goat.
Chinese regulations ban animal performances, but animal rights activists estimate hundreds of shows still take place each year. They say animals are kept in poor conditions and trained under fear and stress to perform tricks.
The fact that people were actually phoning the ministry to oppose this particular development was something that we have not heard before
A local Communist Party-run newspaper, the Qilu Evening News, reported that citizens had organised an online boycott of the nearly-three-week festival that was due to open in late September and tipped off the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, which has responsibility for zoo management. The paper said the ministry issued an “urgent notice” for the festival not to go ahead and that the organisers had refunded tickets.
The ministry refused to comment on Wednesday. Some microbloggers on Sina Weibo objected to animals being made to perform for people’s pleasure and they noted the official ban.
The organiser, Jinan Municipal Horticulture Greening Administration, and host, Jinan Quancheng Ecological Park, confirmed the show had been cancelled but refused to give details.
In 2010, China’s State Forestry Administration banned “direct contact between wild animals and the audience, and shows involving cruelty” and said possible penalties include suspending a business, revoking licences for keeping and breeding animals and sending the case to judicial authorities. In June this year the housing ministry issued regulations that stated “animal shows are strictly forbidden.”
Video: Chinese animal trainers caught abusing tiger on camera