The Rockingham and Cockburn city councils in Australia recently voted to allow circuses with exotic animals to per form in those municipalities. In Rockingham the vote was 8-2 to allow the Lennon Bros. Circus — which includes elephants, tigers and other exotic animals — to perform in the city.
This comes after the Stardust Circus was banned in January from performing with exotic animals in the city of Perth. The Sunday Times (Australia) reported that 17 cities in western Australia have instituted similar bans on circuses that include exotic animals.
According to The Sunday Times, Australia’s Royal Society for the Protection of Animals opposes the use of exotic animals in circuses and had urged the two cities to ban the circuses.
Animal Liberation (WA) president Michael Zampogna complained to The Sunday Times,
No matter how much these circus operators purport to care for their animals, there’s no way they can give them the conditions they require. . . . I’ve actually seen the performance in question and having Arna [an Asian elephant] trot out and sit on a barrel . . . it’s a parody of what you would expect an elephant to be.
Rockingham mayor Chris Elliott told The Sunday Times that he didn’t care that other Australian cities had banned circus animals,
What the City of Perth chooses to do is its business; we’re in the business of providing good government for Rockingham
Source:
Council nod to circus animals. Tim Ayling, The Sunday Times (Australia), April 27, 2003.