Months after a protracted battle over Toronto Zoo’s three elephants resulted in the decision to move them away, two new pachyderms have just rolled into town — and animal activists are not pleased.
The Shrine Circus, operating in the parking lot of Centerpoint Mall, features two elephants. The beasts are trotted out twice every performance for rides at $10 a pop and perform tricks during one segment of the show. The circus is a fundraiser for charities supported by the local Shriners’ chapter.
The mall’s Facebook page has become a flashpoint for criticism directed at the show’s organizers.
Protests are planned for every show this weekend at the Yonge St. and Steeles Ave. mall.
Susan Morris, who organized the demonstrations, has been protesting the Shrine Circus elephants’ treatment for three years. “They basically live on a truck and in a parking lot.
“I’m trying to get people to see that maybe it’s not right and to go for circuses that don’t have animals,” she said.
Larry Solheim, general manager for TZ Productions which produces the circus, said the elephants do well under the company’s care.
“Elephants thrive in captivity,” he said, adding they are transported in custom-built trailers and their average trip is 100 kilometres. On the road, they live in a compound with climate-controlled facilities.
The company’s herd of around eight animals lives in Florida when they are not performing.
Solheim said the company has performed at eight sites in the GTA, and that the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has inspected each without incident.
The question of whether exotic animals should be allowed to perform in Toronto isn’t new. In 1992, city council passed a controversial bylaw banning all exotic animal acts.
It was struck down the following year after a bitter legal fight, with the Ontario Court of Appeal ruling the ban was outside the city’s jurisdiction.
However, the province’s Municipal Act was later amended so municipalities could pass broader bylaws on animals. In 2008, the OSPCA Act clarified that where provincial and municipal regulations conflict on animal welfare, “the provision that affords the greater protection to animals shall prevail.”
A city bylaw prohibits a person from keeping “either on a temporary or permanent basis” certain animals, including elephants and horses.
However, circuses are an exception, said Elizabeth Glibbery, the city’s Animal Services manager. Keeping in line with the Court of Appeal’s ruling, the city has no bylaw relating to exotic animal acts.
“When it comes to cruelty of animals, they (the province) have a lead,” Glibbery said, adding the OSPCA would handle complaints about the circus animals’ welfare.
Solheim said the question of whether the animals should be at the circus is “a moral choice, more than a scientific choice. There’s no credible scientific evidence to show that this is detrimental to animals,” he said.
“It really comes down to what do you believe?” Solheim said, since elephants are social animals that require company and mental stimulation, they are better off in circuses than zoos, where they tend to get bored.
Toronto’s zoo board decided to send away its three elephants to another zoo or sanctuary after concerns over costs and the aging animals’ comfort emerged. Three is the minimum recommended number for a herd according to the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The circus will be in Toronto until Monday.
'I wonder where Mr. Solheim got his fact's about zoo elephants, and the statement that "they are better off in circuses then zoos?" I would also be interested in seeing one of these, " On the road, they live in a compound with climate-controlled facilities!!!" It must be a bear to transport from city to city. I guess that is how times have changed. They used to be called hockey arena's in Canada!!!! Now they are "a compound with climate-controlled facilities." World class spin, Larry.'
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