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STARDUST Circus has responded to claims by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia spokesperson Laura Weyman-Jones that their animals live in “misery”.
In a letter to the editor, Miss Weyman-Jones wrote to the Port News on February 22, saying that “this circus hauls lions, monkeys, ponies, camels and donkeys” around the country, forcing them to “perform confusing and complicated tricks”.
Animal trainer Matt Ezekial and ringmaster Adam St James, who have both been apart of Stardust Circus for more than two decades, strongly disputed Miss Weyman-Jones’ comments.
Specifically, Stardust Circus have six lions (Zimbie, Zaire, Massai, Nairobi, Hulk and Akita), 15 ponies, seven monkeys, five dogs, three goats and two pigs.
Matt and Adam estimate that, per day, the animals spend around 28 minutes a day (combined) performing in the show.
Tricks are as simple as sitting on a podium, to the most complicated trick – jumping from one platform to another through a hoop.
Mr Ezekial describes this as “playtime” for the animals, something they enjoy doing for a reward.
“There’s no difference between this and walking into a pet shop and buying a puppy, except the regulations are a lot stricter for us,” he said.
“There is a lot of training that goes on, and it is positive reinforcement, reward based training, the same as with a cat or a dog.
“I’ve spent every day of their lives with them. I’ve bottle fed them and hand raised them, and they lived with us inside for the first six months. They are like my children.”
Mr Ezekial said that their animals are born in captivity, which includes the lions.
“These animals are 23 generations born in captivity. They haven’t been taken from the wild for a long, long time,” he said.
“They love what they do. To say they are confusing and complicated tricks are completely wrong.
“PETA and protesters falsely say they are kept in small cages, they falsely say that they are beaten which is not true, and that they don’t belong in this environment.
“You only have to look at how happy, how content and how loved our animals are to show that they do belong here, where they were bred and where they were raised.”
Mr St James added that the claim the animals are overworked and perform for hours on end is “absolute garbage”.
“You will read claims from protesters and activists saying they ride bicycles and that sort of garbage,” he said.
“You read claims of them jumping though fire, but fire has not been allowed to be used with animals for over 20 years in Australia, and the same goes for whips.
“The constant threat of punishment claim is another load. Not one of our animals is ever abused in anyway.
“Let’s not forget also that we are such a regulated industry. We get inspected by RSPCA, bio-security and all these kinds of organisations.
“If any of these groups thought for even a moment that our animals were mistreated or harmed then we would, first of all, get a fine and secondly would lose our animal license and wouldn’t be able to have them.
“For these groups to make such false claims, it really is just ridiculous.”
Both Mr Ezekial and Mr St James invited anyone who had doubts to visit them at Westport Park.
“People can come and see for themselves the beautiful big enclosures they all have,” Mr Ezekial said.
“They have split level living inside with air conditioning. We constantly tell people to come and look for themselves but they don’t.
“They stay away and believe what they want to believe without having the facts.”