Animal rights circus protest

From the archive, first published Thursday 13th Oct 2005.

ANIMAL rights activists staged a protest outside a circus near Farnworth on Wednesday night.

Campaigners from Manchester Animal Protection and the Captive Animals' Protection Society stood at the entrance of the Bobby Roberts Circus at New Hill Farm, Manchester Road, distributing leaflets and holding a banner asking people to "boycott the cruel circus."

At the centre of the row is the big star of the circus, Annie the elephant, who appears in the interval so that visitors can have their photograph taken with her.

The circus say Annie is part of their family, and has been retired from the ring for some time and that they're "surprised and saddened" by the campaign.

But the animal welfare groups say Annie should be sent to a sanctuary and the use of animals for entertainment of this kind is cruel and exploitative.

Leaving the first show of the evening with his young daughter, Lee Eyres, aged 35, from Swinton, said: "It was a cracking night. The animals looked fine to me. If they looked ill treated I wouldn't be spending my money here."

But David Cooper, aged 37, of Agecroft Road, Swinton, who went to the show with wife Michelle, aged 31, and daughters Katie, aged four, and Amy, aged two, said: "We phoned to ask if there were any animals in the circus and they said no.

"We wouldn't have come otherwise. I don't agree with it. "

Susie Hughes from Manchester Animal Protection said: "We're here tonight to raise public awareness. We're giving them these leaflets so they can make up their own mind."

The Bobby Roberts Circus is one of the few in the country that still uses animals.

Also among the acts are jugglers on horseback, springboard acrobats and Arabian stallions.

Earlier this year The Sunday Mirror launched an appeal to rescue the 52-year-old elephant from the circus.

Archive Home