McLaren Circus performs juggling act to get green light from the city
With just hours until the curtains go up, the McLaren Circus will have to walk a tightrope to meet the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s requirements to host its five-day event.
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said yesterday afternoon that the circus had submitted its checklist to the metro late on Monday evening but failed to meet all the requirements.
This, after the organisers of the circus were granted provisional approval to host the event at the Cotswold Open Park from tonight to Sunday.
“So we gave them till Wednesday [today]to send us the updated checklist,” Soyaya said.
Earlier yesterday, mayor Retief Odendaal’s spokesperson, Jeanette Nel, said the preapproval had been withdrawn and the circus barred from hosting the event on municipal grounds.
Despite this, the circus organisers forged ahead with erecting their structures at the Cotswold Open Park yesterday.
“The city manager instructed metro police that the circus has been advised that they need to remove their structures because they are constructing it illegally,” Odendaal said.
“The provisional approval was withdrawn yesterday as there were outstanding requirements that were not met by the applicant.”
However, circus spokesperson Karl Hildebrandt said the organisers were looking forward to today’s discussions with the municipality before an expected 500 circus-goers descend on the grounds.
Hildebrandt claimed the situation was being politically driven.
“We now need to ensure that we meet the city’s requirements,” Hildebrandt said.
“I have requested the specific documents from the city during an on-site meeting we had with the municipality today.”
“The interest from the people clearly shows that there’ sa demand for our show and that’s why we secured an alternative venue in the interim — we are moving to Kings Beach, a privately owned venue.
“We will be setting up there and utilise the alternative venue until we hear back from the municipality ... we’ve also been visiting a Nelson Mandela Bay municipality council site in
Despatch for the past 10-12 years and there has never been a dispute or concern about it like this.”
Hildebrandt said the municipality had treated the application with extreme prejudice.
“McLaren Circus has been trading for 18 years, with animals, and has never been charged or convicted of cruelty to animals.
“Their [municipality’s decision] was based on animal welfare concerns and though there have been these concerns, we have yet to receive a visit by an inspector to conduct an inspection for what we have been accused of.
“Which clearly shows that the municipality isn’t really concerned about the welfare of our animals.”
The McLaren Circus has ruffled the feathers of animal rights organisations.
Beauty Without Cruelty SA’s Toni Brockhoven said the circus was marred by inherent animal cruelty.
“Captive-born does not make wild animals domestic ... they are denied every behaviour.
“Lions, for example, would usually travel over 10km a day in a 240km radius.
“Caged, enclosed, obliged to learn and perform tricks, travel, lights, noise and people the five minutes they are in the ring are soon forgotten by the audience.”
Brockhoven said that she loved circuses, as long as they remained animal free.
“We can be enthralled by the amazing human talent available.”
Animal Anti-Cruelty League spokesperson Linda-Louise Swain said there was enough human talent and no need to force animals to do tricks.
“The rest of the world has made changes and is saying no more animal circuses.”
But Hildebrandt said the McLaren Circus’s animals were well looked after and comfortable.
“Toni [Brockhoven] only references lions and tigers.
“As an animal-loving business that works with all our animals on a daily basis, their care and wellbeing are all always equally important.”
Despite follow-up inquiries regarding the specific requirements the circus had failed to adhere to, no response was received by the time of going to print.