Interest in Shrine Circus high, even as its future is in doubt
instruments, or instruments that could be painful, on or around wild and exotic animals. Circus insurance carriers require the presence of bullhooks — a pointed hook atop a long handle — around elephants, although only as guides, according to the Shriners.
Such conflict could leave the group with a few options: Convert to an animal-free circus, which Mr. Leavy said would likely fail; attempt to relocate the event out of Pittsburgh; or close it down. The group has argued a shutdown would devastate its fundraising.
Mayor Bill Peduto urged Shriners to continue their tradition, but without “instruments that cause pain and injury to the animals they use as entertainment.” Other states and cities have passed similar rules without triggering a complete shutdown of Shrine circuses, he said.
“The use of animals as entertainment globally is not a growing industry,” Mr. Peduto said. He signed the city rule on animal treatment. The council vote was 6-3.
Similar regulations have taken effect in California, Rhode Island and elsewhere. The Shrine Circus in Los Angeles announced in 2014 that it would drop animal acts. In West Springfield, Mass., the Melha Shrine Circus said in 2017 that it would reinstate the acts after eliminating them — and losing attendance and money — a year earlier.
Probably more than half of circuses have given up animals over tighter rules for treatment, said Jan Biggerstaff, president at the Circus Fans Association of America. She estimated more than 30 circus groups travel the country.
“There are several shows going out making a living, paying performers, making a profit and traveling” without animals, Ms. Biggerstaff said. “People are disappointed, of course, especially if last year [the shows] came with animals and this year they don’t. People don’t understand what has happened.”
Longtime circus-goer Sherrin Lynn Kuzel, 41, said her son Andy, 10, who is on the autism spectrum, is particularly captivated by the lights, tricks and animals at the Shrine Circus.
“To see a special-needs child smile and have fun from start to finish, that’s something that is so precious,” said Ms. Kuzel, of White Oak. Activists for animal rights “have arguments — they do,” but she believes the circus offers “more good than bad.”
“I don’t think [activists] are looking at the whole picture,” Ms. Kuzel said. “... In my theory, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Leave it alone.”
Still, switching away from old-fashioned animal attractions can open greater fundraising options through Cirque du Soleil-type performances, said Natalie Ahwesh, vice president at Humane Action Pittsburgh. The coalition lobbied council for the city rule.
“There’s many things that might have been tradition 100 years ago that are not acceptable now, and this is one of those things,” Ms. Ahwesh said of bullhooks and related tools. “We are completely supportive of [Shriners’] right to fundraise and to fundraise with the circus, but animals should not be hurt in that process.”
Shriners maintain that animals at their circus don’t face pain or harm. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Joseph James granted them a one-time exception to the city rule, allowing the circus to go on Sept. 14-16 at PPG Paints Arena as the group fights the law in court. Court-approved monitors are slated to observe animal treatment at the event; advertised attractions include thrill acts, a “singing pig,” “the world’s smallest elephant” and Spider-Man.
Proceeds from ticket sales flow to the fraternal organization, which helps support nonprofit Shriners Hospitals for Children and related care, Mr. Leavy said. He didn’t immediately share fundraising tallies from the circus. Shriners International headquarters in Florida did not respond to a request for comment.
Cultural historian and biographer Linda Simon, who wrote the book “The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus,” said the tradition is still viable. Featuring animals is a challenge largely because of public sentiment, protests and transportation and insurance costs, she said.
The future appears to be in smaller circuses — more like 19th-century European events, with clowns and acrobats, Ms. Simon said. Children today can see animals through the internet, movies and other media, she said.
“They don’t need, the way they did in the 19th century, to go to a circus to see an elephant because they’ve never seen one,” Ms. Simon said. “There’s not the kind of cultural pressure to provide animals as part of a circus.”