ASPCA Pays $9.3 Million in Landmark Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Settlement

On 28th December, "Marketwatch" reports that Feld Entertainment, who run Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, have scored another victory over the animal rights movement. This very welcome news further exposes the truth about a nefarious movement that uses unjust means to further its own radical agenda:

More things in common...

RSPCA official charity logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rouster is not usually one to push a story by the Daily Mail. This tabloid rag that masquerades as middle-brow journalism has been responsible for many unfair and unbalanced reports on animals in entertainment, and often shows shocking examples of its own double-standards within short spaces of time. However, this weekend's story reveals something that Rouster has known and been trying to put across for a very long time. 

The RSPCA has never been Rouster's favourite "Animal Welfare" charity. Unlike many other very reputable non-profit animal welfare charities, the organization's stance has been far too political for our tastes. Their unwavering position against wild animals in circuses - despite numerous inspectors finding nothing wrong with travelling circuses, their own commissioned investigation coming out in favour of animals in circuses and in opposition to the overwhelming evidence contradicting their own self proclaimed "scientific" opinion -  obviously pits them directly against our own philosophy. However, they are generally considered to be the lesser of our threats. Unlike, PETA, ADI, HSUS, CAPS and so on, the RSPCA can still just about be seen as an Animal Welfare group, rather than Animal Rights. We believe that, on the whole, they don't muddy the water and a lot of their principles make good sense. They advocate good animal care as opposed to the AR stance of eventual abolition of the human/non-human animal bond. They don't want the world to turn vegan, pet ownership to cease and they are not voicing any opposition to animals in entertainment generally - just the bizarre anti-circus stance.

Christmas And It's Panto Time

Christmas is a time for traditional seasonal entertainment and in the UK pantomime is very popular and it can feature artists from all walks of the entertainment business including stars of the stage and screen and most recently winners of talent contests enjoying their “15 minutes of fame”.

One such artist is Ashleigh Butler and her performing dog Pudsey.  The success of this act - that won Britian's Got Talent - confirmed the love the British still seem to have for talented performing animals .