We've never cottoned to the whiners who complain about the noise from UniverSoul Circus, which runs on our side of the park for two weeks every spring. Kids love the circus and, hey, what's two weeks? But Flatbush Vegan has a different beef: the blog claims UniverSoul is among the circuses that treat animals cruelly. A list of allegations compiled by PETA dates back to 1997. Of course, half of what PETA says you can, as a rule, disregard, but USDA reports have confirmed some nasty stuff. Most recently, "A U.S. District Court judge who viewed videotape of UniverSoul elephant exhibitor Carson & Barnes’ animal care director Tim Frisco beating elephants with bullhooks and shocking them with electric prods." That was in 2005, however, and the problems since then have been relatively mild.
Does anyone who went to the circus this year care to comment?
Count me in as one of the "whiners" who thinks the UniverSOUL Circus should have to obey noise regulation laws just like everyone else. I'm assuming over on Hawthorne street you can't actually hear the circus (three shows a day!), perhaps if your apartment faced the park as mine does you would have a different opinion.
It also doesn't surprise me that they may mistreat their animals. Sleeping on concrete every night while being schlepped around the country and made to stand on their back legs three times a day (which is not a natural behavior for Elephants and can be quite painful) is bad enough. It seems the UniverSOUL Circus must have also gotten some pointers from Barnum and Bailey in the use of bullhooks and electric prods to make these huge creatures "behave." Wild animals don't belong in ANY circus, period. Peta may be a little extreme but at least they're out there pointing these things out. Its a disgrace.
Posted by: Amanda | May 02, 2009 at 11:01 AM
As one of the "whiners" who lives across the street from the Park and who is an involuntary listening audience member of every show of the circus when it's in town (including the ones that end at 10 p.m.), most definitely, yes. Each year in early April, when I see the Universoul Circus first arrive and start pitching their tents in the Park, I don't welcome the weeks of additonal circus-specific noise as well as increased vehicle and foot traffic, horns blaring, car exhaust fumes and soot, hijacking of already precious few parking spaces, street littering, etc. that will also be coming to Ocean Avenue.
OTOH, while the noise is still annoying and invasive, Universoul Circus has greatly improved its noise levels in recent years. More importantly, because it's an African-American owned family business that is bringing some much needed relatively low-cost, culturally -relevant, family-oriented entertainment to the community for a brief period, I have learned to briefly adapt my lifestyle in order to peaceably co-exist with the noise. This adaptation can range between keeping windows shut, delaying bedtime, remaining in the back of the house or planning to just not be home when the shows are going on. In the larger scheme of things, it's not the most oppressive inconvenience of City living to have to hear Circus perfomances day and night for weeks. At the same time, though, I sure as hell don't appreciate being labeled a "whiner" by those who have no idea what it is to live in the backyard of a circus!
As usual, our family went to the circus this year. In this season, we found the animal acts to be noticeably more "conservative" in nature than in previous years. For example, the elephant routines involved unremarkable leg lifting, lying down and circle dancing; big cats only appeared in cages for brief spells during the magic tricks; and no acts required whipping to induce animal compliance and response.) However, I imagine it's the treatment and care of the animals when they're not on stage that is the stuff of concern for animal rights activists. On that note, I'm with Amanda: wild animals just don't belong in circuses (or caged zoos for that matter) at all!
Posted by: Ceelledee | May 02, 2009 at 12:59 PM