Britain's Tiger Kings?

Netflix's Tiger King was the documentary success of 2020. Featuring a collection of bizarre big cat owners in the United States with particular emphasis on the Tiger King Joe Exotic. Since its success media producers have been very keen to try and emulate that success by producing documentaries featuring similar subject matter.

To this end, the UK's ITV television network broadcast a two part documentary in March 2021 entitled: Britain's Tiger Kings. The documentary was fronted by actor and producer Ross Kemp and was a co-production produced by Honey Bee Media in association with Freshwater Films which is owned by Kemp.

In a press release ITV described the documentaries as:

"...Ross Kemp is on the trail of Britain's tiger and lion kings. He meets a man with lions in his back garden, a couple with a vast menagerie made from scrap and an ex-circus trainer who owns five tigers..."

ANIMAL DEFENDERS INTERNATIONAL AT IT AGAIN: Animal Defenders International & Anne the elephant

ANIMAL DEFENDERS INTERNATIONAL AT IT AGAIN: Animal Defenders International & Anne the elephant

The discredited animal rights group Animal Defenders International (ADI) are at it again trying to get their hands on Anne the elephant.

This despite the fact Anne the elephant has arthritis and can't be moved to be with other elephants because of this underlying health condition. Anne now lives in a purpose-built facility at Longleat Safari Park which was constructed from public money after an appeal from the Daily Mail newspaper. She receives expert care from genuine specialists in elephant husbandry.

Nevertheless, ADI is absolutely desperate to get their hands on Anne the elephant to put her in an animal rights run sanctuary so they have control over her and use her for their propaganda purposes.

Soft Animal Rights: Appeasement of an animal-apartheid ideology

Martin Clunes joins the growing list of celebrities that thought Animal Rights would not touch them so long as they helped their cause.

Soft Animal-Rights is all around us. In most cases, it is a cynical form of virtue signalling. Celebrities and people in the animal world are lured by it. The idea is that if you give some ground to ideologists (as opposed to just sticking with progressive science-based animal welfare) they will either leave you alone or help bolster your public image. The problem is that AR ideology is an unavoidably extremist cause and once you step into it you will find that is very hard to justify half-measures. Furthermore, you will find yourself in a crazy reality that you helped foster.

Animal Defenders International Get It Wrong: All Animals Have Not Been Banned By Law From Italian Circuses.

Animal Defenders International (ADI) is well known for their gratuitous and congratulatory self-promotion. Promoting themselves as key players in animal welfare where in fact they are no more than yet another ideologically driven animal rights business.

Their most recent pronouncement was that the Italian government has decided to ban the use of all animals in circuses.  Animal Defenders International state:
 

"The final vote on the bill to phase out ALL animals in circuses and travelling shows took place on November 8th 2017 in the Assembly of the Italian Parliament and is now law! Rules for implementation of the new legislation to phase out all animals in circuses will be set out within one year by a Ministerial decree."

This statement is untrue. In an address to the Italian Parliament (in regulations that relate to the performing arts) it was suggested that circuses would discontinue animal acts. The Italian Senate will sit again in March and if this regulation does go through circuses will have three years to remove animal acts.

Scottish ban on wild animals in circuses. Banning Circuses, Banning Zoos.

The Scottish Parliament has continued to collate opinions about their proposed ban on wild animals in circuses.  On 13 June 2017, it was the opportunity of the animal-rights movement to present evidence.  For those who have followed this process they would be aware that Martin Burton of Zippos Circus suggested at a Parliamentary committee meeting, that the new legislation proposed by the Scottish Parliament could in fact mean the end of zoos.  This was reported widely in the media. 

Scottish ban on wild animals in circuses. Thomas Chipperfield Responds

Thomas Chipperfield on the cover of The Telegraph Magazine.

As many know from our recent blog, the Scottish government is planning to introduce a bill to ban performing animals in travelling circuses.  Below we reproduce a letter from Thomas Chipperfield who is the UK's only current big cat trainer working in a travelling circus. This is a copy of a letter he has sent to the Scottish; Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee.  We are grateful to Thomas Chipperfield for allowing us to reproduce it here.

Scottish ban on wild animals in circuses. Is it really ethical?

As many know from our recent blog, the Scottish government is planning to introduce a bill to ban performing animals in travelling circuses.  In a similar vein to the British government, the Scottish governments say they wish to ban this activity based on ethical grounds.  The British government made the point they could not ban animals in circuses on welfare grounds because it was not supported by the available science.  But what exactly do they mean by ethics?  In addition, what is the opinion of a qualified academic regarding this matter?

Below we reproduce a letter from Professor Ron Beadle who is Professor of Organisation and Business Ethics at Northumbria University. This is a copy of a letter he has sent to the Scottish environment change in land reform committee.  We are grateful to Professor Ron Beadle allowing us to reproduce it here.

Scottish Circus Animal Ban: Questionable Ethics?

For those who do not know yet, the Scottish Parliament have published a bill to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses. With all the pressing matters arising from the impending Brexit; a debate over a second referendum on Scottish independence; recent acts of terrorism occurring in Britain*; immigration issues; foreign policy debates; concerns of educational cuts; problems with the National Health Service; and the inherent challenges met by an ageing population; it’s nice to know that our politicians want to tackle such an urgent matter as the banning of a minority animal enterprise that has regularly met its English regulatory standards.

The Review of the Welfare of Wild Animals in Circuses – Far from Impartial? Part 1

A review of the welfare of wild animals in circuses, which was commissioned by the Welsh Assembly, has finally been published.  It will come as no surprise to many, including Rouster, that the whole exercise was going to be a “greenwash” in favour of the animal-rights lobby. 

See: Is Welsh Assembly trying to 'fix' a circus animals ban?

First, the lead scientist, Professor Stephen Harris, chosen to undertake this review has co-authored a paper in 2009 condemning the use of wild animals in circuses; a situation that should have at least challenged his scientific neutrality on this issue.  He also has a reputation for involvement with various animal-rights lobby groups including The League Against Cruel Sports (LACS).  This association and his long-term friendship with a leading member this organization caused a court case in 2015 to be dismissed and brought into judgment his objectivity is an independent witness.

Circus Ban in Wales. Begging The Big Question

Campbell has always declared an interest in the animal-rights movement and a cursory glance at his Twitter feed aptly demonstrates his eagerness to promote animal-rights groups such as The Born Free Foundation and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA)

The media love controversy and if it involves animals and allegations of cruelty, they love it even more.  The circus is no stranger to this situation despite the fact that bona fide independent research demonstrates that the welfare of animals in well-run circus is not compromised.  This fact was accepted by the British government when they announced a muted and yet to be implemented ban on wild animals in British circuses. 

"...The 2007 Radford Report on circus animals concluded that there was insufficient scientific evidence to demonstrate that travelling circuses are unable to meet the welfare needs of wild animals presently being used in the United Kingdom. That position has not changed. Consequently, we are now looking at the means by which a ban could be introduced on ethical ground..." Minister of State for Agriculture and Food (James Paice) 1 March 2012

Family of fox hunt protesters fined after taking own film to police

The debate over hunting with hounds (foxhunting) has been the subject protest over the years.  In 2005 and following pressure from various animal-rights lobby groups, the British government banned foxhunting – this followed a similar ban in Scotland in 2002. 

Former Ringling employees speak out on animals in the circus!

Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, Inc

Rouster thought that this article – which first appeared on Facebook – was worth bringing to a wider audience.  For many years the animal-rights movement have used former employees of circuses and other animal establishments to make claims about the alleged animal abuse within these institutions.  In many cases, these allegations are brought about by formers employees who have some form of axe to grind with their former employers or by persons who have been paid to make such claims by the animal-rights industry.  However, nothing is generally heard from the thousands of employees (or former employees) who work for organisations such as circuses, who tell a very different story about the high levels of care and commitment circus animals receive on a daily basis.  Perhaps the public should take far more notice of these endorsements than the distortions and lies from groups such as PeTA.

Oh My! George Takei and the Elephant in the Room.

It's always very disappointing when yet another actor decides to make statements in an area they have so little actual qualification to assess. The latest celebrity to go down this path is the actor most famous for his part in the original Star Trek television series George Takei. In a recent posting on his Facebook page regarding an elephant video that is circulating on social media he stated: 

"...Elephants are incredibly empathic and intelligent creatures. They belong in the wild, or at least in sanctuaries such as this, and not in circuses or amusement parks..." 

Rouster’s Continuing List of Hypocritical Celebrities - Roger Moore

Recently, Rouster continued their intermittent exploration of celebrities who could be described as hypocrites. These are individuals who have no issue decrying the use of trained animals in circuses and other entertainment yet are quite happy to have their talents used in film and television productions that feature not only trained animals but animals that may have been trained by circus animal trainers.

 

With the opening of the latest James Bond epic "Spectre" perhaps it would be appropriate to examine the film and television career of yet another celebrity hypocrite, former James Bond actor Roger Moore.

ADI: Sorry There's Been An Error About Our Charitable Status

Animal Defenders International (ADI) are a well-known animal-rights lobby organisation familiar to many readers of this blog. Their most recent televised appearance in the UK was to provide a representative to put forward the organisation's well-known opposition to animals, in what they describe as, entertainment – although this now seems to encompass just not circuses but also zoos. The program was ITV's This Morning hosted by Phillip Schofield and Amanda Holden and related to the animal trainer Thomas Chipperfield's touring show with trained big cats entitled "An Evening with Lions and Tigers". The interview became notorious for the fact that Amanda Holden became quite aggressive in her line of questioning of Thomas Chipperfield, which resulted in the actress being obliged to apologise to viewers in the latter part of the interview.

Celebrity Hypocrites - The award goes to Amanda Holden!

Regular readers will recall that not so long ago Rouster decided it would be useful to compile a list of celebrities who, during their professional careers, have been involved with trained animals and did not see the hypocrisy of also siding with animal-rights campaigners against the use of such animals in performance in film, theatre and, of course, the circus. Just to refresh readers memories we list our top 10 celebrities.

Rouster's Top 10 Celebrity Hypocrites

1. ????

2. Ricky Gervais

3. Simon Cowell

4. Steve-O

5. Kim Basinger

6. Alec Baldwin

7. Martin Shaw

8. Doris Day

9. Brian Blessed

10. John Nettles

It has been noticed that we, in fact, left out a number one celebrity in our list. Who could have this special spot? Virginia McKenna for the way she has used her career-saving appearance in "Born Free" with trained wild animals to create a "charity" that gets funds for fighting against the industry of training animals? Roger Moore for working with trained animals in a lot of his films - most notably "Octopussy" that featured an animal circus? No, as fate would have it, we now have somebody who we feel can be awarded this place. 

Therefore, this award goes to Amanda Holden.

Why? 

CAPS Now Targets Direct Action Against Zoos

If anybody would like to see an example of why we have been warning fellow colleagues in the zoo world that they should be concerned at the attack on circus animals one does not have to look much further than events this weekend that took place at Twycross zoo. On Saturday, 8 August 2015, a small group of protesters from the Captive Animal Protection Society (CAPS) staged a protest outside the zoo. The police were called because the protesters were apparently stopping cars from entering the zoo's property.

The Mystery of Merlin the Circus Donkey That Never Was.

"Nellie" the elephant may well have packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus but in the case of "Merlin" the donkey this never happened because he was never in a circus in the first place.

Anyone who was on Facebook with an interest in circuses on the night of 4 August 2015 would have been alerted to to a link by the donkey and horse sanctuary in Cornwall called the Flicka Foundation. In a posting, this group made an allegation that one of their donkeys "Merlin" was rescued from an abusive situation in a circus. The Foundation also made various "factual" claims regarding abuse in circuses in general. Unfortunately they could not provide any references or evidence supporting this position. Due to this a number of circus supporters politely commented on this thread posting various facts and examples of why we did not believe that in general circuses with animals are by their nature cruel.

Open Letter: Confidence Industry Or Conservation?

Background:  

Ron Thomson is an ex-game warden and retired national parks board director. He has 46 years experience in southern African wildlife management affairs including 28 years of full-time service in various national park departments and 3 years working as a professional hunter. He now writes books "to create a better informed public" - better informed, that is, about the realities of wildlife management. One of his books has been prescribed reading for the Higher Diploma in Nature Conservation for the last 15 years - an academic course offered to serving wildlife field officers by the Tshwane University of Technology. For more than 20 years he was a Member of the British Institute of Biology and a Chartered Biologist for the European Union.  He has vast experience in both the theoretical AND the practical application of big game management - especially elephant management.  Two of his past posts were: (1) The Provincial Game Warden i/c. of what is now Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park - one of Africa's biggest and most prestigious game reserves; and (2) The Director of the Bophuthatswana National Parks Board (in the 1980s).

Animal Defenders International & The Wild Animal Sanctuary

In February 2015, Rouster highlighted the further antics of the animal-rights business Animal Defenders International (ADI) fronted by Jan Creamer and her partner Tim Phillips. In a blog entitled Lions Are for Life, Not Just the Fundraising, we revealed that ADI had employed the services of the animal-rights friendly Daily Mirror to promote its latest £200,000 fundraising campaign. This new campaign was to relocate lions (and other animals) that had been seized with the collusion of the Peruvian government from ostensibly circuses for relocation to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in the United States.

The blog also highlighted Animal Defenders International's deteriorating relationship with the Longleat Safari Park in regards to its assistance in the rehoming of the former circus elephant Anne.

In a not unfamiliar scenario, it now appears that - as with Longleat Safari Park - the relationship between The Wild Animal Sanctuary (TWAS) and ADI has also broken down, acrimoniously. Reproduced below is a statement from the founder of TWAS, Pat Craig, giving his side of this story regarding the collapse in the relationship of his rescue centre with Animal Defenders International.