Circuses complain of harassment by NGOs

MUMBAI: The Circus Federation of India (CFI), the apex body of the 150-odd circuses in India, has decided to approach Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, former prime minister Chandrashekhar and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, regarding the alleged harassment of circus owners by "self-proclaimed" animal lovers and NGOs.
This was stated by Sujit Chakravorty, partner of the Empire Circus currently showing at Churchgate.Former minister for environment, Maneka Gandhi, who is an animal rights activist, had taken stringent steps to prevent the ill-treatment of animals in circuses and had also issued a notification in 1998 banning the performance of tigers, lions, panthers, bears and monkeys.
The notification also said that no other animal could be made to perform without getting registered with the Animal Welfare Board, a statutory body under the ministry of environment and forests. Circus owners are agitated over the process of registration which they say is merely a money-generating gimmick.
S M Chaturvedi, counsel for CFI, said, "The government said it wanted to maintain a record of every animal in a circus but they are charging a fee of Rs 500 per animal. As a result, the circus owners ended up paying lakhs of rupees for every bird or horse they kept."
Chakravorty said the law should penalise the guilty but at the same time it should also take care of the circus industry considering its 145-year-old history.
"The circus industry employed 50,000 persons and cared for about 1,000 tigers and lions. Instead of having a constructive approach the authorities are summarily asking us not to have animals. We cannot survive without our animals," he said.
"By framing arbitrary rules, the government has unleashed these animal lobbyists at us. Such is the extent of fear created by these lobbyists that the management of a prominent circus chose not to bring any animal to Mumbai for its shows," he said.
He recalled the furore generated when some animal lovers alleged that Jumbo Circus, which was performing in Patiala had a blind hippo. "It later turned out that the animal had cataract," he said.