Horses and Ponies
Two frightened horses
escaped from the ring
Pony with lesions on skin
Horse walking on hind legs
Dogs riding on pony
Dogs confined to small pens
During a performance involving six horses at Circus Sydney, the vet noted: “There was obvious aggression, tension and fear amongst all the horses”, but mostly between two. “The black bucked and reared repeatedly. At the end of the performance two of the greys broke free and ran around the back of the front row and had to be retrieved. During the performance the horses had to be controlled with the whip by the performer and by someone in the background. This was a dangerous display which caused distress and fear to the animals.”
The same presenter returned with a single horse act, the equine put through a ‘dancing’ routine to rock music. The vet commented that this act “put even more unnecessary strain on a horse’s musculoskeletal system than occurs with normal riding or even dressage. … Muscle strain, joint injury, ligament and tendon damage are all possible with this kind of performance when repeated on a regular basis.”
At Circus Vegas the vet noted: “The performing ponies were a pathetic sight. Tightly reined, they were unable to look to either side or use neck movement to balance. ... One of the ponies was smaller than the rest, had a stilted gait and poor musculature. … This animal should not even have been in the ring as it did not appear fit to perform the kind of tricks required of it.
“On closer examination after the show its skin was covered in lesions, at least down to subcutaneous level, which were white - this may indicate either treatment or disease. Animals under treatment should not perform or be on display so as to give them optimum opportunity to recover.”
The ponies at Circus Vegas appeared not to have been cleaned out since their arrival six days previously, just having fresh straw put on top of the wet and soiled straw. “If this is the regular environment for these animals, it can predispose to foot, skin and respiratory problems. One of the dappled ponies had very forced respirations (breathing). They had no fixed water supplies and the bucket in the pen of the pony with the skin lesions had tipped over, depriving it of water and adding to the dampness of its environment.”
“The ponies should be simple to manage competently; even this husbandry is substandard and poses a risk to the health and welfare of the animals.”
Dogs
Circus Sydney:
“The lurcher had to walk for some distance on its hind legs - this puts unnecessary and unnatural strain on the hind legs and potentially the stifle (knee) joints; it also looked stressed on the back of the horse, having difficulty balancing.
“Most worrying was the terrier - it was either in pain or sedated... It had to be carried into the ring and carried to its tricks. As a veterinary surgeon one can recognise an animal that is centrally depressed (by chemical, disease or behaviour) and this animal was depressed. I gather that it had been lively enough four nights before [on a previous visit by CAPS investigators] and had to be restrained from jumping off the horse and jumping down from its tricks. Now it appeared spaced out, vacant and slow. This dog was not fit to be used in this performance...”
Tom Duffy’s Circus:
Dogs were housed in small pens, approximately 3 metres by 2 metres that did not allow exercise within the pens. Some of the dogs were chained within the pen, restricting movements even further. It is not known if the dogs are given regular exercise apart from their time in the ring.
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