Wild Animals in Circuses (No.2) Bill

Written evidence submitted by Petra Jackson animal carer at Circus Mondao (WAC23)

Hello

I am writing to you in response for a call for evidence on the BAN OF WILD ANIMALS IN CIRCUS.

I was not born in circus but i am a born animal lover and carer. I have had animals around me from the day i was born, pets, horse riding, training dogs for agility, working on a poultry farm/ petting zoo, helping in riding schools.

When i was 16 i left school to work in a show jumping yard, the cruelty i seen there was shocking, drugged horses and whacking their legs to make them jump higher just a few incidents.

I was so shocked by it, I asked my mother to collect me as i could not stay there any longer with such blatant cruelty and disregard for the animal and return i home. lucky for me there was a circus in our town and i applied for a job and got it to look after dogs and ponies, 27 years I’m still here working with the animals and have had the opportunity to work with elephants, tigers, lions, camels, horses, leopards, llamas, reindeer, goats, cows, ponies, zebras, mules and donkeys.

I have been at CIRCUS MONDAO since the beginning in 2016, I care for all our domestic and exotic animals, our bactrian camels our my babies and KACHANA our baby camel (he will be 4 on the 15th June) I have hand raised from 5 weeks old, His mother had a underlying heart and lung condition that unfortunately resulted in her having to be PTS. I painstakingly sat with this baby to keep him company, i offered him milk from a bottle every hour to encourage him to start drinking from a bottle, that’s every hour 24 hours of the day until he would start taking a decent quantity of milk that i could then go to every 2 hours then every 3 hours, so on top of feeding him his bottles i had to make up fresh formula each time and wash and scrub the bottles every time so that he did not get an upset tummy from dirty bottles,

when he got a little older and was on feeds every 3 - 4 hours on a couple of occasions i would ask a colleague if they could give him a feed as i need to go and do something at a particular time which coincided with feed time, on returning i would be told he had refused his bottles as it was not me feeding him, i would immediately go to him and he would drink all his bottles .

When he got older and needed to come off the bottles as his rumen was changing and he really needed to be going onto hard feeds, i was the one who’s heart would break as he would call for me to come feed him but i had to be strong for his own benefit in the long run. This so called WILD ANIMAL my baby you are wanting to tear away from me, I have been through thick and thin with my baby boy and you wanting to BAN HIM FOR LIVING WITH ME on ethical reasons is just crazy, He is a happy and healthy animal, it’s been scientifically proven that animals in circus have a fulfilled and happy life so to try and go down the line of ethics is crazy.

Kachana is not just an animal in our circus he is my child that i have raised from a baby your ban will force him to be taken away from me who he loves and i love him dearly,

There is not a majority vote for a ban, it is a small minority who seem to shout the loudest so get heard, they spread lies and propaganda against the circus, we constantly show videos of our happy healthy animals, the recent consultations on animals in circus

wales consultation results 2018

6546 responses

4576 via email

1961 via online form (you could reply twice from one email by sending via email and online)

4019 identical responses that only answered the first 2 questions (should circus animals be banned) this was sent in as part of a campaign by BORN FREE.

how can you get a proper response from the welsh public if =?

1/ you can reply more than once

2/you can be from anywhere in the world

3/ you only give 2 answers

this just show that a huge campaign was carried out by ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS, who asked all their members to respond.

CIRCUS MONDAO 2018 WELSH TOUR OF APPROX 10 VENUES OVER 10 WEEKS SEEN 20.000 CUSTOMERS PASS THROUGH OUR DOORS.

That surely outweighs the consultation results of what the welsh public want to see, if you ban on ethical reasons you are taking away these people’s ethical right to choose which form of entertainment they want to see.

Dec 2017 WELSH MOBILE ANIMAL EXHIBIT CONSULTATION RESULTS.

70 comprehensive responses

892 only answered 1 question, SHOULD CIRCUS ANIMALS BE BANNED?

42 of the comprehensive responses said they would like to see all animal activities banned not just circus.

So how can the government post percentage results when its clearly flawed.

surely that’s not ETHICAL.

All our government reports show that our animals are in a good safe environment, we have been under licence with our animals a long time now and for you to ban us due to a tiny minority not agreeing with animals in circus is ridicules and surly that’s not ethical.

Please reconsider and maybe all the ministers who have been lobbied by ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS should take the time to come and visit a circus and see the high animal welfare and husbandry that is happening, not the outdated views, lies and propaganda of the animal rights groups.

thank you for your time

May 2019