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Clowns, trapeze artists and women parading around on elephants - these are all elements of a typical circus. Unless the circus is conceived by animal rights activists like Daniel Holbert and Carla Wilson.
"The animals at circuses perform out of fear; they wouldn't perform otherwise," said Wilson, of the Central Florida Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. "These are vicious animals in the wild. What makes them so docile? They have their spirits broken," she said.
Wilson, along with several members of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida and a few members of the UCF student organization the Body of Animal Rights Campaigners (BARC), stood outside of the Arena for almost 12 hours on both Saturday and Sunday. They protested the 50th Anniversary Shriners Circus and the treatment of the elephants involved in the circus.
"We are demonstrating because the animals used in the Shrine Circus, among other circuses, suffer great abuses, such as beatings, lack of food or water, [and] exposure to harsh environmental conditions," explained Holbert, a member of BARC. Holbert was escorted off arena property and told not to come back when he tried to sneak behind the scenes with a video camera.
The groups would like to see circuses with animals banned from UCF and eventually from Orlando. "There are circuses like the Cirque du Soleil that don't use any animals," freshman Sara Beniamino said. "UCF should ban circuses that use animals."
Wilson said that a long-term goal of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida is requesting the city of Orlando to ban circuses with animal performers. "Several other Florida cities have banned animal circuses - Hollywood, Pompano Beach and Lauderdale Lakes," she said. "We just want the Shriners to stop using animals. They don't need them; they have enough entertainment without them."
As a clown beat a drum and protesters waved signs that read "Beat drums, not animals," the group passed out information on circus animals and U.S. Department of Agriculture reports on animal-rights citations. A member of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida explained to interested passers-by that animal handlers use a "bullhook" to control the animals - a sharp, curved piece of metal. Elephants are guided with pokes to the most sensitive parts of their bodies, including behind the ears, under the truck and on the back of the knees. She invited circus guests to touch a bullhook they had on display, something circus workers usually carry up their sleeves.
The Bahia Shrine has had its last eight yearly circuses at the UCF Arena and has held annual circuses since 1954. Members of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida have protested all eight years. The Body of Animal Rights Campaigners joined the effort for the first time this year, as it was founded last semester.
The Bahia Shrine Center is located in Orlando and has exclusive jurisdiction over Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia counties. The circuses raise money for operational costs of the temple, which has more than 3,000 members.
The Shriners rent the circus from professional circus companies, such as this year's circus provided by the Royal Hanneford Circus. At least 17 times in the past decade, the Department of Agriculture has cited Royal Hanneford for failing to provide its animals with proper veterinary care, sufficient space and for allowing an elephant to stomp through rows of an audience during a performance in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Bahia Shrine members disagreed with the protesters. "If I saw an animal being mistreated, I'd bring it to my boss," a Shriner said.
A Shriner who would identify himself only as "Al" said, "These guys take better care of [the animals] than they do with their own kids."
"I think if they really knew how well the animals were taken care of, it wouldn't even be an issue," John Teresi said. Teresi is one of the Bahia Shriners who takes care of the temple mascot, a 17-month-old camel named Sir Gus Jr. He also said that one of the best parts of the circus is raising public awareness for exotic and endangered animals.
The protesters agreed that raising awareness was exactly why they were there. "We just want to keep educating people," Wilson said. She said that people will glance at the protesters when going into the circus and then come up to talk to them after they see the practices going on under the big top. Another member of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida agreed and mentioned one woman in particular who passed their booth on Saturday on her way into the circus. "She was just speechless," Suzann Gilmore said, of the woman's reaction to their exhibit. Later, during the circus break, the woman left without finishing the rest of the show. "It was literally like her heart just dropped, you could see it in her face ... It was like a member of her own family had died," Gilmore said.
Wilson said that the Shiners Circus used to allow children to ride the elephants outside before the shows. This year, the elephants were not giving rides, though the Shriners did allow for photo opportunities with their temple mascot, Sir Gus Jr.
By 2 p.m., the camel was visibly tired and lying down on the grass, eyes closed and legs sprawled. "He doesn't sleep like that all the time, does he?" Teresi asked. "I don't know," another Shriner answered. When a woman and her child approached the camel, she asked, "Oh my goodness, is he all right?" The Shriner immediately answered, "Oh yeah, he's just taking a nap." The woman seemed content with the response and took a picture of her child lying down with the camel.
Another Shriner explained that the camel was "like family." He told a story of bringing Gus Jr.'s predecessor, Gus Sr. to a veteran's home. "Old Gus drank beer," he said. "Oh yeah, we'd give it to him to drink, and he'd just drink it right up. Of course, if you tried to give him some diet beer after that, he'd know and he wouldn't take it. If you started him off with the light beer he'd be all right, but not if you gave him the real stuff first."
Shriners are part of an international fraternity with Shrine Temples, or chapters, located throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada and the Republic of Panama. Shriners Hospitals for Children is a collection of 22 pediatric hospitals, operated and maintained by the Shrine. Specializing in burn and orthopedic care, the hospitals provide free, professional medical care for children under the age of 18.
The 191 Shrine organizations "raise over $1 million a day for the hospitals, about $500 million every year," said Eugene Gray, the membership chairman for the Bahia Shrine. To date, more than 700,000 children have been helped by Shriners Hospitals, costing the Shriners over $6 billion so far. Gray added that any local child needing medical help from the Shriners should call 407-660-8811 and speak to the children's director.
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