Stop Circus Suffering

In March 2011, ADI exposed the terrible cruelty that Anne the elephant was subjected to whilst at the Bobby Roberts Super Circus. As a result of our shocking exposé, the circus owners handed Anne over to Longleat Safari Park – where she remains today – and Bobby Roberts became the first circus owner to be found guilty of offences under the Animal Welfare Act (2006).

• Find out more about the life of Anne in the circus, our exposé and the trial here

In a recent update about Anne osteopath Tony Nevin comments on the huge transformation there has been since Anne’s arrival and the state that she was in when she arrived at the safari park, which are contrary to statements made in the media at the time by staff who defended Bobby Roberts. These statements, supportive of Mr Roberts, were used extensively by defense barristers in an attempt to condone the treatment of Anne by the Roberts.

Mr Nevin remarks “In the two years that I’ve known her, we’ve noticed a huge improvement both in the quality of her muscles, skin tone….the way she does move. She now moves symmetrically”.

He goes on to say that his work involves “releasing some of the extra tension she gets around her left shoulder and right hip because we think at some stage she injured herself such that she strained in a diagonal with the left front leg and the right hind and so my job is to try and just normalise how those muscles function and to get rid of the memory you get often locked into soft tissues…..it’s that aspect that I work on on a regular basis.”

He comments on “the state that she was in when she arrived here” and that “we’ve been able to really transform her”.

We are so pleased to see that Anne is getting the care and attention that she deserves after a lifetime of suffering in the circus, however we remain concerned that she continues to be housed alone, without a companion.