Essere Animali's new video is clear proof that the use of animals in circuses must be banned. The majority of Italians agree, as do veterinary and psychology associations. An editorial by the organisation's spokesperson.
Last year, around this very time, the approval of the law on the performing arts code marked a historic moment. This reform, in fact, contains a passage — brief but powerful — establishing that circuses and, more broadly, every form of travelling show will have to phase out the use of animals. The law also stipulates that the government must issue, by 27 December of this year, a legislative decree setting out the timescale and manner of this epoch-making change.
To push the government to honour its commitment, Essere Animali has released a video filmed during circus performances and at the zoos set up alongside the big tops. Images that remind us how the exhibition of animals — already questionable in itself, as an expression not of a relationship of respect but of domination through exhausting and coercive training — is only one of the many problematic aspects of the circus.
For one hour of performance, the animals — often belonging to wild species, some of them endangered — spend their lives in cages or locked inside transport containers. The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe has also spoken out against the use of animals in circuses, stating that their natural needs "cannot be met in a travelling circus, especially in terms of housing and of respect for the possibility of expressing normal behaviours," since exotic mammals "carry the same genetic makeup as their counterparts living in the wild, and therefore retain the same instinctive behaviours."
The circus with animals is designed to attract the attention of the youngest audiences. After all, what child is not captivated by the idea that just a few steps from home they can marvel at the very animals that fill their fairy tales? So why not indulge them, at a fairly modest cost?
The answer lies in a document signed by 650 psychologists, highlighting the anti-pedagogical nature of using animals in such shows, which are considered "a vehicle for educating children in disrespect towards living beings." Rather than fostering a healthy curiosity about the animal world, the sight of elephants and tigers forced to perform exercises contrary to their nature in a context of apparent fun can only lead the youngest viewers "to disregard the messages of suffering" — a detachment that "would hinder the development of empathy, a fundamental stage of education and growth".
The various problems with circuses are amply confirmed by the statistics available to the sector. According to Eurispes, more than 70 per cent of Italians want a circus without animals, while across the world more than 50 countries have already introduced measures that will bring these shows to an end — in some states they have already been banned entirely. According to a 2017 report commissioned by Lav from the Censis research institute, the number of performances and audience members has fallen over the years. Despite public funding, circuses are in serious crisis.
All eyes are therefore on the current government, which does not need a great deal of foresight to understand that this is the right moment to complete the reform process. The future lies in performances featuring only trapeze artists and acrobats — like Cirque du Soleil or other contemporary circuses — or in ingenious shows that allude to or tell stories about animals without exploiting them. Such as performances that have replaced live animals with holograms, or like the Monterey Aquarium in California, which no longer displays live cetaceans but resin representations of them, faithful in every detail to the dolphins, orcas and minke whales that inhabit the sea and must remain there. These are the shows we want — modern and free of caged animals — the sight of which no longer makes anyone laugh, but simply fills them with a profound sadness.