Thomas Chipperfield spent the last year touring Wales with his lions, tigers, and other animals. He was greeted by protesters almost everywhere he went.
Chipperfield, Britain’s final lion tamer, appears in An Evening of Lions and Tigers along with a group of trained lions and cats. His is the only UK circus that displays wild cats. Three UK shows are presenting wild animals. He is constantly under threat of closing down.
Legal rather than commercial threats are the ones that threaten his work. Many people in the industry told me that customers do not prefer animals, and Chipperfield’s small show is still a success. The government says that a bill banning wild animals from circuses will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time permits. The Welsh government has also begun to consider outlawing this practice.
Since the mid-1920s, circuses are regulated. Under licensing conditions that were passed in 2012, they must be regularly inspected against strict standards of animal welfare. In 2007, a large government study concluded that circus animals were treated in much the same way as those in zoos. The stress levels of the animals and their breeding patterns did not warrant a ban.
In fact, there have only been two prosecutions in the UK for animal cruelty over the last 35 years. Reports found circus animals were at virtually no risk of harm, unlike lethal entertainments like horse racing.
Chipperfield says it himself.
You cannot afford to mistreat either a lion, or a tiger. They will eventually turn. You will soon realise that they are much stronger, faster, and more dangerous.
The 2013 draft bill did not present itself as animal welfare legislation but rather as an ethical question. Chipperfield and other animal entertainers are in danger because critics do not support the idea that animals can be used as entertainment.
The modern Circus was invented in Britain. It was founded by Philip Astley nearly 250 years ago when a former cavalryman added clowns and fairground jugglers to an exhibition of horse riding on London’s South Bank. The Circus had to struggle for legitimacy at the beginning but eventually became the first mass-popular entertainment in the world.
In 2015, calling something a circus would be an abuse. This is to mock the hundreds of performers who continue to travel across the country to provide their live entertainment, no matter the weather. You can find oppressed communities in 2015 by looking no further than the Circus.
If Chipperfield is indeed Britain’s final lion tamer, it will be due to legislation that imposes the ethical standards of one group on the activities of another. Anyone who is a believer in commercial freedom should be concerned about this imposition of public tastes, even if they are done with good intentions.
Imagine the uproar that would occur if horse racing was ever threatened with a ban. If that were to happen, the defense would focus on commercial freedom and maintaining a traditional lifestyle. The Circus is no different, but it has fewer supporters and a smaller budget. The desire of directors of traveling circuses to preserve a unique way of living is evident in my research. One director said:
How many of us are in the same boat about our jobs? Animals in circuses are not a problem for those who don’t like them. It’s their right to protest, but should everyone else be required to follow suit?