words by Carol King
Italy’s Animal Amnesty is organising a nationwide protest in Rome on 1 December against the use of animals in circuses.
The non-profit organisation chose the city as the location for the protest because Pope Benedict XVI will be having an audience with representatives of Italian circuses from Ente Nazionale Circhi (National Circuses Authority) at the Vatican the same day. The circuses authority will put on a show with music the day before the audience, 30 November, in the Piazza del Popolo.
Animal Amnesty wants to ban the use of any animal in circuses. It asserts that circuses can provide entertainment without using animals, but rather using acrobats and jugglers. The demonstration will consist of a procession through the streets of the capital finishing with final party in Piazza della Repubblica with performances by circus performers and street artists. The organisation say the party be an opportunity to acquaint people with artists who do not have the chance to emerge “because of the hegemony of the big circus companies, which enjoy favours and government contributions.”
The two events come after the escape of a giraffe from the Rinaldo Orfei Circus in the town of Imola, Bologna in September. The giraffe ran amok for four hours, damaging vehicles along the roads as it caught them with its hooves. The animal was pursued by a police squad car and shot with a tranquiliser by the police. Soon after, the giraffe died, apparently of cardiac arrest.
