Wanted: Homes for 2,000 soon-to-be-banned circus animals

Mexico needs to find new homes for at least 2,000 tigers, elephants, giraffes, zebras and other exotic animals that will soon be banned from the country’s circuses.

Circus owners across Mexico are worried about the fate of their animals, which they say will be too expensive to keep once the ban kicks in. Meanwhile, government and zoo officials face multiple problems of how and where to relocate the animals, whose bad fortune is to have been raised to perform tricks under the big top.

The ban, which takes effect on July 8, stipulates that such animals should evolve in their natural habitat and it aims to outlaw cruel practices to animals that civil organisations have long lobbied against. While the deadline to comply is still a few months away, many circuses have already shut down and laid off hundreds of workers.

Thousands of circus animals in Mexico, such as this dromedary (above) and tiger (below) at the Cedeno Hermanos Circus in Mexico City, will be left homeless and redundant when a new ban on them comes into effect in July. – Reuters  

“We are waiting for a response from the government about what will happen to our animals,” says Armando Cedeno, president of the Mexican Association of Circus Owners and Artists. He estimates there are around 4,000 circus animals in Mexico, double the government’s tally.

No easy solution

In Tizayuca, near Mexico City, 45-year-old animal tamer Bruno Raffo starts his day at 7:30am, tending to 13 tigers. It costs 3,000 Mexican pesos (RM73) daily to feed the tigers, he says, which doesn’t include his own salary and bills from specialised veterinarians for periodic check-ups.

But he’s decided to stick around for now. “I’m going to stay here with the animals to see what can be done,” says Raffo, whose arms are laced with scratch marks from a lifetime working with the giant cats.

Several circus owners have properties in the area. Nearby, jaguars, zebras, horses, and camels languish in cages next to trailers filled with circus equipment.

It's not just the circus owners but government officials are also at a loss when it comes to the animals. An official from Profepa, the federal agency for environmental protection, says the government has been evaluating which facilities can take the animals. But zoo officials can’t see any easy solutions for Raffo’s tigers and others like them.

Above, a group of dromedaries and camels are seen in a corral in a town called Tizayuca, near Mexico City, during a media tour organised by a circus workers union to show the animals from some circuses that have already shut down. Below, a pair of albino tigers, also in Tizayuca, wait for a new home. – Reuters

Juan Arturo Rivera, Mexico City’s director of zoos and wildlife, says it’s “not feasible” to add so many new animals that were raised in a different environment and maintain decent living conditions for them.

Privately owned zoos have offered to help but also say the transition would be challenging.

“It depends on the physical and mental condition of the individual [animals] themselves, to be able to adapt,” says Frank Carlos Camacho, director of Africam Safari. Located in the central city of Puebla, the zoo allows visitors to observe wild animals roaming the park from the safety of their cars.

While conservation programs are well-informed about zoo animals’ genetic, medical and family histories, he says, “little or nothing is known about circus animals.” 

Three months to deadline, Mexico’s entire population of such animals are still waiting for a forwarding address. – Reuters

A circus tiger's paw reaches out from its cage in Tizayuca. – Reuters