Shrine Circus is here to stay

Despite spirited, on-campus protests from two animal rights groups, UCF President John Hitt announced Tuesday that UCF would continue to allow the Shrine Circus to bring their animal acts to the campus each year.

"Be a Knight for the Animals: Oppose Animal Acts at UCF!" was the message that animal rights groups - The UCF Body of Animal Rights Campaigners and The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida - conveyed Monday afternoon outside Millican Hall.

While Hitt held a private meeting with his administration inside, the activists displayed signs and handed out information that focused on what they claim is the Shrine Circus' dirty little secret: animal cruelty.

ARFF officials met with Hitt in May to illuminate the animal cruelty cases and citations of mistreatment that the Shrine Circus has accrued with the United States Department of Agriculture, including failure to provide veterinary care, adequate shelter from the elements and the failure to handle animals in a manner that prevents trauma and harm and ensures public safety.

Hitt agreed to confront the issue and make a decision as to whether UCF would ask the Circus to remove animal acts from their show during their annual visiting performance to the New UCF Arena.

"We're asking to have an animal-free circus and to ban the use of exotic animals on campus because of the cruelty involved," said Carla Wilson, coordinator for Central Florida ARFF. "There are so many circuses that don't have animals; we feel it is an easy decision to make."

The animal activist groups are opposed to the use of animals in circuses, claiming that the emotional and physical damage to them is irreparable.

"There is a lot of evidence of animal cruelty in circuses," BARC Co-President Kayla Bloomer said. "The black-market trading of animals is the third largest illegal trade in the world, only behind drugs and guns. These animals are seen as property and are forced into performing by the use of whips, sharp bull hooks, electric prods, sticks and general abuse. Our own entertainment is certainly not worth all of that suffering, especially when there are cruelty-free alternatives."

Wilson echoed Bloomer's concerns of the animals' welfare in circuses.

"The Shrine Circus makes animals perform by intimidation and fear," Wilson said. "They take an animal and break its spirit. That's how you get a wild elephant to stand on its hind legs and turn in circles."

The activist groups have also taken issue with the Shrine Circus' advertisement claims.

The Circus states that the profit from their shows will be donated to the Shriners Hospitals for Children. However, the activists claim that only a portion of that money actually goes where they say it will.

"They say the Circus is a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital, but in reality, only 2 percent of the hospital's proceeds come from the circus," Bloomer said.

According to a recent article in The New York Times, an examination by the newspaper of Shrine records and minutes of Shrine meetings and interviews with current and former Shrine officials revealed that more than 57 percent of the $32 million the Shrine raised in 2005 through circuses, bingo games, raffles and a variety of sales went to costs of the fraternity, including keeping temple liquor cabinets full and offering expense-paid trips to Shrine meetings and other events.

Their investigation also confirmed BARC and ARFF's claims that only 2 percent of the Shriner hospitals' operating income comes from money raised by Shrine temples and members' dues. The Times found that, instead, the majority is supplied by the hospitals' $9 billion endowment.

Numerous attempts to receive comments from the Shrines were unsuccessful.

Hitt's decision was not made public until Tuesday, at the open forum held in the Student Union's Key West Ballroom from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Members of BARC approached the microphone to ask for the verdict and were stunned to hear that Hitt's decision was to continue to allow the animal acts to take place in the Circus when it visited UCF.

"The decision was made to honor the contract we have with Shrines to let them hold their circus here on the campus," Hitt said. "That's something we've done for years and we have an ongoing contract with them and we decided to honor the contract."

He continued to offer BARC some advice.

"I think it is important that everyone knows there are rules involved in animal cruelty," Hitt said. "If you have knowledge that someone is abusing animals or treating them cruelly, I would say that it is incumbent upon you to call that to the attention of the Department of Agriculture and other government agencies that enforce the laws of animal abuse."

However, when confronted with Bloomer's follow-up statements that BARC and ARFF were not asking UCF to break their contract with the Shrine, they were asking them to remove the animal acts from the show, Hitt had less to say on the matter.

"I don't have a real great answer for that," Hitt said. "We looked at the contract, and we had members of the [UCF] counsel with us to go over it. We just didn't feel we wanted to get into trying to change or break the contract at this late date."

Dan Holsenbeck, vice president of University Relations, added to Hitt's comments after the forum ended.

"We did have a discussion about the issue, and there is a division among us between the issue of morality and immorality, but there is not enough of a consensus among us to change the policy," Holsenbeck said to BARC members.

Other students attending the forum supported BARC's stance of leaving animals out of circus entertainment.

"Personally, I think animals deserve fair treatment, and I don't think you need to hurt animals to have a good time," said exceptional education graduate student Isaac Brail. "Entertainment doesn't need to be excluded from the equal treatment of living creatures."