Intolerable Treatment of Circus Animals, Please Send Protest Letter

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BACKGROUND | SOURCE CIRCUS ANIMALS IN QUERTARO

Intolerable Treatment of Circus Animals

On Sunday, April 29, 2012, we were walking past Plaza de Toros Santa Maria in Querétaro, Mexico when we noticed a circus with animals corraled outside. It was the Circo Union, owned by Hermanos Fuentes Gasca, as shown on the trucks. I went home and returned with a camera to record these conditions:

• An elephant was chained in leg irons on the front and back legs. The elephant was struggling continuously to get out of the sun shining on its backside. This animal seemed to be in distress and was vocalizing continuously…like it was talking to itself. In fact, it just seemed miserable.
• Two juvenile tigers were dozing in a cage that had a water dish, but I do not know if it was full.
• During the heat of a 90 degree afternoon, a semi-truck containing large, adult tigers was closed on one side. That reduced any hope of ventilation as only one side remained open.
• When the other side of the truck was opened up, I saw the semi was sectioned off into 8 compartments. Adult tigers were caged here, with as many as 3 in a single small section! Only half of the compartments had small water dishes, while the rest were empty.
• A male employee came up with a long, metal pole which he shoved into the cages and began screaming at the tigers. To say the cats were disturbed is an understatement. He did not see me on the other side, so this behavior continued for a while.

I am writing up this episode and displaying photos in order to get some help for these animals. As I am not a local here, I don’t understand the mechanisms for reporting animal welfare/cruelty violations and my Spanish is atrocious. But, I find animals suffering through such heat, restraints and a lack of water intolerable. As for the man screaming at the cats as he poked them with a metal rod….who knows what to do with that kind of human?

WHOM TO CONTACT

Send letter of complaint with heading ‘Circo Union in Queretaro Cruelty’ to: denuncias@profepa.gob.mx


SAMPLE LETTER

To Whom It Concerns,

I am writing to request that action be taken immediately on behalf of the animals in the Circo Union, owned by Hermanos Fuentes Gasca, who are living in less-than ideal conditions, forced to endure inadequate space and diets, inferior medical treatment and care, lack of companionship, and involuntary training.

The documented negligence to which the animals are subjected has been well established and can be seen at http://circusanimalsinquertaromx.shutterfly.com/, and although you may assert that humane protocols must be followed in accordance with certain standards, the visual evidence validates the position that these directives are often ignored in favor of park management profit; nevertheless, establishing a threshold of humane treatment is ambiguous at best, these standards being implemented by those with questionable interests, its oversight managed by those who exploit animals for funds.

I hope you make the compassionate decision to discontinue the negligence of these animals and reject complicity in the unethical industry that profits from their suffering. However, as long as Circo Union continues to unnecessarily capitalize on the exploitation, imprisonment, and maltreatment of animals, I will not financially support them. It is important to recognize that consumers and tourists are increasingly rejecting those destinations that are complicit in the suffering and unnecessary treatment of animals by shifting their loyalties to those countries that do not participate in the exploitation of them, and I hope that you will extend such an ethical and empathetic gesture as well and return a superior standard of care to these animals or relinquish them to accredited sanctuaries and preserves.

I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this urgent situation.

in quertaro and all over the world,
a brand new program has been
unfurled.
now manunkind is forced to perform.
the spacemen have landed here,
in a swarm.
so homo crapiens paces in his
cage, dark and cold.
and wonders why his freedom was
bought and sold.
a cautionary tale,
tables do sometimes turn
is this the only way
that our species will learn?????

Karen Lyons Kalmenson