Cruelty is Not Entertainment

Amanda Peterka

Signs reading “No Excuse for Abuse” and “Cruelty is not Entertainment” greeted circus-goers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as they entered the Breslin Center to see tigers, dogs, bears and elephants perform.

The protest marked the end of a long but ultimately unsuccessful attempt by Students Promoting Animal Rights (SPAR) to have the Royal Hanneford Circus, which has been cited by the USDA for acts of animal cruelty, canceled. But the protest was far from a failure; a large turnout, good weather and honks from passing cars all led to increased awareness of the abusive practices that can sometimes define animal acts in circuses.

“There is no humane circus that uses animals,” said Sean Cook, psychology junior and vice president of SPAR. “If we can show that a huge amount of people don’t want them here, we can get them to not resign next year.”

Mitch Goldsmith, social relations and policy freshman and events coordinator for SPAR, said that cruelty in circuses takes on a three-pronged approach. There’s the transport in tiny metal cages with minimal food and enrichment, the forced performance in loud crowds and the teaching of the tricks, he said.

“The main claim of the circus is positive reinforcement, but there is no such thing,” he said. “There are beatings, and food, sleep and enrichment deprivation.”

The road to the protest was long and often times disappointing to SPAR members. It was Goldsmith who first spurred the group into action after seeing a Breslin placard advertising the event a few months ago. Goldsmith had previously researched circuses and seen footage of animal cruelty, but it was when he helped organize a circus protest last summer that he saw firsthand the bullhooks that are often used for elephants, and animals that were tied to stalls for hours on end.

“And then there’s the forcing of animals to give rides to children. That’s not natural for an animal,” said Goldsmith.

SPAR researched the Royal Hanneford Circus and discovered citations of animal abuse, compiled by PETA for a comprehensive Web site on circus abuse. Royal Hanneford’s PETA fact sheet begins,

“Royal Hanneford Circus has failed to meet minimal federal standards for the care of animals used in exhibition as established in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has cited Royal Hanneford numerous times for failure to provide veterinary care and meet minimum space requirements. An elephant with Royal Hanneford rampaged during a performance, causing spectators to run for safety. Royal Hanneford’s elephants have been treated for a human strain of tuberculosis.”

The fact sheet goes on to list the citations, which go back to 1993 and mainly deal with veterinary care for animals. USDA citations, however, have done little to stop circuses. “Circuses are cited all the time for doing things wrong, but the USDA has no money to do anything,” Cook said. “They oversee circuses, but it’s low on the totem pole [in terms of priority].”

Goldsmith also said that the Royal Hanneford Circus gets its animals from Frazen Family Circus, and that the son of the previous owner works for Royal Hanneford as an animal trainer and has been convicted of animal cruelty.

SPAR’s big breakthrough, said Cook, occurred when the group discovered a name on the Royal Hanneford’s Web site: Tim Frisco. Frisco was named in the employee section of the site as the elephant trainer (he has since been removed, and the Web site was found to have dead links and limited information). Frisco also appears in a disturbing video on circuses.com, where elephants are being beaten into submission with bullhooks.

Armed with this information and a list of human circuses willing to come to Michigan State, SPAR approached the Breslin Center in hopes of canceling the Royal Hanneford’s appearance.

The first meeting with the Breslin also included representatives from the Caravan Circus, the local group that rents out the Breslin Center. H. Michael Rice, the director of Auxiliary Services at MSU, said the circus is the group’s big annual fundraiser, and proceeds go to local charities.

“It’s just a longstanding tradition. Before Breslin was even built, the same group had the circus and did the same thing at the Lansing Civic Center,” Rice said. “SPAR was pretty reasonable. They laid down their position and what they wanted to see happen, but they had approached the Breslin staff and Caravan a month after an agreement was signed.”
           
It was this agreement, signed between the Caravan and the directors of the Breslin Center, that inhibited the circus from being canceled. However, the circus and the Breslin agreed to meet with the animal rights group a week later (which turned into two weeks later), but this time the circus representatives weren’t there.
           
This time, though, SPAR showed the Tim Frisco video to Cheryl Swanson, director of the Breslin Center. According to Goldsmith, she told the group to turn off the video before it was over.
           
“It made them visibly uncomfortable. They were squirming and squinting,” he said.
           
But once again, contractual issues and tradition made it impossible to cancel the circus.
           
“We’ve had a circus at the Breslin since 1989, and we’ve had no issues, no protests, no concerns, we’ve never witnessed any mistreatment whatsoever,” Rice said. “Students had information from other locations and other cities from previous years, and they felt the same was happening here, but based upon the information we had available and the contract we had, the university determined the circus would proceed.”

He also added that it’s been the Hanneford Circus a number of times.

Goldsmith, though, said it was a matter of money. “Lou Anna K. Simon refused to meet with us. The circus makes money. There is no moral code of conduct for activities held at the university. If it’s bringing in money, they’re not going to cancel it,” he said.
           
Or, as Drew Winter, president of SPAR, puts it: “It’s not cost effective for the Breslin to care about cruelty.”
           
After the two Breslin meetings, SPAR also met with Rice, to whom Swanson reports, and sent out letters to the benefiting charities. The Boys and Girls Club was the only one that responded.

“We’re trying to go at it from every angle that we can. But we knew it was going to come down to a protest after the second meeting,” Cook said.

However, the group wasn’t interested in a loud, raucous protest. All it did was stand on the grass and hold up signs, only talking to circus-goers if they approached the group first. “We handed out etiquette sheets. We’re just holding up signs. There’s no confrontation necessary. We’re trying to make positive, kid-friendly signs,” Cook said.

Sgt. Randy Holton of the East Lansing police, was on hand to make sure the protest went off without a hitch. He described his role as a mediator between the circus and the protest rather than an inhibition to the students’ rights. He said that the group was respectful of circus-goers and didn’t stand on sidewalks or in the road.

“They’re here for a cause, and we want their event to be successful,” Holton said. “But we want the same for the circus. We want it to be win-win and don’t want to make them move or arrest them.”

Ashley Kaminski, an education senior at MSU, was one of many holding signs. A member of SPAR, she said, “People don’t realize the abuses because the animals are so cute. There are better ways to show kids animals – take them to a sanctuary.”

Haslett resident and MSU alum Beth Bechtel does just that with her 8-year-old son, Austin. She, Austin and her husband were holding signs among the students; they became interested after seeing an article in the State News about the circus. This was Austin’s second protest, the first being in support of homeschooling.

“I think you can learn about animals from TV and other things,” Beth said. “We bring him [Austin] down because it is a good learning experience.” She’s also taken Austin to Sasha Farm, a sanctuary for animals that have escaped the slaughterhouse.

Andrea Norton, a James Madison sophomore, was taken to circuses as a child, but she said she thought they were strange and that she got scared seeing the whips. Although not a member of SPAR, she said she finally understood circus abuses 10 years ago. “It’s completely unnecessary for human entertainment, for animals to be subject to cruelty. Go to a concert, read a book instead.”

Added Kaminski, “Go to a bar, get wasted, whatever.”

Rice attended the circus on Friday night and said he saw the protest on Harrison Street, but the circus was still a success. “The protest was peaceful as far as I could see, they didn’t keep anybody from coming in the building or anything like that,” he said. “Lots of families were there, lots of little kids and medium-sized kids. It’s a success because it happens every year, and I don’t think our numbers are down. Circuses aren’t as big as they used to be, but they still draw families.”

Although SPAR couldn’t get this year’s circus canceled,  they’re hoping that the university listened to them for next year. “We want to let university officials know that we should be taken seriously and not be brushed aside,” Goldsmith said. “The rights movement will never go away. It will always get bigger and attract more people. There’s no use in fighting us because we are growing, and we are going to win.”

Cheryl Swanson could not be reached for contact, and the circus Web site includes no contact information.

Questions? Comments? Contact Amanda Peterka at peterkaa@msu.edu

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