Stop Circus Suffering

The case started on Monday 18 January. Mary Cawley was charged with 21 offences.

Circus Misery on Trial – The Mary Chipperfield Trial

On the 9th April 1999, hundreds of campaigners arrived at Aldershot Magistrates Court to hear Mary Chipperfield and Roger Cawley finally sentenced and to learn the fate of Trudy the chimpanzee.

It was a bad blow that the CPS did not ask the magistrate to remove the couple’s Dangerous Wild Animals Act licence, impose a ban, or request that Mary Chipperfield’s name be removed from the Performing Animal trainers’ register.

There is an overwhelming case that ‘wild’ animals should be banned from circuses, but clearly ‘domestic’ species are not immune to suffering. The Animal Welfare Bill needs to protect these animals too.

Government resistance on animal circuses baffling…