Urge Welsh landowners to cancel big cat act!
ADI calls for Chipperfield big cat show to be cancelled
Help ADI oppose ‘An Evening With Lions And Tigers’ in Wales – sign and share our petition urging landowners to cancel the circus-style act, currently performing in Porthmadog.
A performance in Herefordshire was cancelled after an ADI petition attracted 12,000 signatures and a recent petition against the show’s appearance in Wrexham closed with over 54,000 signatures. To date the show has appeared in Welshpool, Wrexham, Penrhyn Bay and Caernarfon.
Four year old lions Assegai and Tsavo live in cages alongside tigers Nadia, Altai and Syas on the back of a truck known as a ‘beastwagon’. Their owner is circus trainer Thomas Chipperfield, a relative of the notorious Mary Chipperfield who was convicted for multiple counts of animal cruelty in the late 1990s following an investigation by ADI.
Chipperfield and his family toured with Duffy’s Circus in Ireland for many years before returning to Britain in 2013, where he presented a big cat act at Peter Jolly’s Circus – one of two circuses still performing with wild animals. After causing outrage across the UK with the return of big cats to a British circus, he took the cats to spend the cold winter months on the Scottish coast.
The first of Chipperfield’s solo animal shows was denied a licence by local authorities in Scotland, and the performances in Wales have sparked an outcry from animal organisations and members of the public, and attracted negative publicity, low audiences and opposition from local councillors and MPs.
Footage recently emerged of lion Tsavo taking a swipe at Chipperfield when the trainer leaned in for a kiss during one of the performances. Worryingly, the show director is reported as stating that such incidents “happen all the time”.
The lives that the Chipperfield big cats endure are in stark contrast to those they would have in the wild. Given their solitary nature, in their natural environment tigers have limited contact with their own kind, roaming and defending a territory which can be as large as 470 km2. In their confined travelling circus living quarters, the Chipperfield tigers live in close proximity to one another and alongside lions, who they would not encounter in the wild.
Voicing his concern at the environment the animals are forced to endure, wildlife vet Simon Adams said “the limited space available in a travelling circus is unsuitable to big cats” and the ability to be able to patrol their huge natural territories is “an essential behavioural drive”.
ADI has documented the Chipperfield cats exhibiting abnormal, repetitive behaviour not witnessed in the wild but commonly seen in performing animals. Their unnatural behaviour has been described by vet Marc Abraham as “a sure sign their welfare is severely compromised”.
The British public is overwhelmingly opposed to the use of performing wild animals, and their distaste for this outdated form of entertainment is reflected by consistently high support for a wild animal circus ban. A 2013 YouGov poll found, with regard to the use of lions and tigers, 78% and 79% believed these animals should not be used in circuses.
Over 200 local councils have banned animal circuses from public land and a commitment has been made to prohibit wild animal acts in England and Wales, for which national legislation has already been drafted. Scotland will soon announce its plans, following a public consultation which revealed that 98% of respondents support a ban.
Take action!
- Sign our petition against ‘An evening with lions and tigers’ in Wales and attend local protests
- Urge your MP to sign EDM 192 which calls for the circus ban to be swiftly passed – you can find out who your MP is and contact them here
- Make a donation and help us expose the suffering of animals in entertainment
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I am just so fkn sick and tired of humans exploiting animals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
This is cruel…
Stop the Nonsense!
This is cruel confinement. This is nothing more than an exploitative circus. There is no educational value in it at all. This is abuse!
This needs to stop. This is not entertainment. It is cruelty.
This is not entertainment. It is cruelty. Just stop
Get with the 21st century! All animals should be banned from shows, circuses, fairs, etc!!!
Disgraceful. They have no space for natural behaviours. Cooped up in cages whilst travelling the UK in all seasons. They are not big pussy cats they are wild creatures who should not be caged & forced to perform pathetic tricks for greedy circus owners to make money. Dont go to this circus or you will be directly supporting the cruelty that is obvious to some but hidden behind cage doors to others.
Should be banned immediately. The local council should stop this straightaway!!
no wild animals in circuses please,end this!!!!
CANCEL this horrible fiasco..
HORRIBLE !!!!! STOP !!!!!
“People speak sometimes about the “bestial” cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Please stop this, it’s time…
this is just wrong money can not justify the abuse big cats are better than this you know its wrong do not let human arrogance and greed win
do whats wright do not let human arrogance greed and ignorance win you know better
Come on, people, wake up. No more animal abuse and exploitation for entertainment. On the heels of Cecil the lion, the world was shown how beautiful these animals are and they deserve to live life freely in the wild. Please do not support this and convince others not to.
This is not appropriate in this day and age.
Four year old lions Assegai and Tsavo live in cages alongside tigers Nadia, Altai and Syas on the back of a truck known as a ‘beastwagon’. Their owner is circus trainer Thomas Chipperfield, a relative of the notorious Mary Chipperfield who was convicted for multiple counts of animal cruelty in the late 1990s following an investigation by ADI.
Please cancel the Chipperfield Big Cat Show.
This should never be happening Will write to my MP again as she loves animals
Banning shows like this one is the right thing to do.
very very sad 🙁
This should be relegated to history…
These are wild animals and it is cruel for them to be subjected to these conditions
Stop this suffering now please ban this
These beautiful animsls deserve more. They deserve to live their lives in the wild. Feeling grass/ dirt under their paws. The sun beating on them. This is inhumane. Abuse and needs to rnd
This is a disgusting way for those animals to live. Must be tortuous for them.
stop using animals as slaves in the circus its a hell hole and ban all animals performing.
Close this circus down!
Please stop animal abuse
No more cruelty
Leave wild animals in the wild – they should not be imprisoned for our entertainment
This is abuse! Stop exploit ING animals for money!!!
Animals are not toys to play with, they should be left to run free, as it was intended.
This is horrible. These beautiful, magnificent cats should not be treated like this. Shame on Chipperfield and all others who use animals this way!
There is no place for this kind of cruelty, dressed up as entertainment, in this day and age.
Please ban the performance of animals in circuses, pleaded? !
Animals don’t belong in circuses. Stop the use of them in these cruel conditions. Wildlife should be wild and free as God intended
These are WILD animals that should be left in the wild and protected!
This needs to be BANNED,so cruel.
Endangered Animals need to be respected reducing them to Circus Clowns sends out all the wrong messages to the world & children, the abuse these wild animals endure for the sake of entertainment is not acceptable in the 21st century, it needs to be banned and left in the dark ages with many other mistakes that us humans have made, this planet evolved for all species not humans alone.
Please stop this cruel animal captivity. They deserve a better life. This is a crime against humanity.
totally disgusting that this is still being allowed to happen.do hope NO ONE goes to this circus- because that is what it is. SHAME ON YOU CHIPPERFIELDS!!!
i am saying no to this please help all animals
Big cats do not belong in a cage day and night…that alone is abuse. Please stop showing these animals..put them in a sanctuary where they can run and be animals.
Animals do not belong in cages day and night.. Need to go to a sanctuary where they can run and be animals.
Please cancel the circus act????
STOP using Lions for your entertainment. They were born to be FREE and WILD! Respect that!
respect to animal
Stop animal cruelty!!
we have to change, this is outdated in this day and age.
STOP THE TORTURE AND ABUSE OF THESE WILD ANIMALS ! THEY BELONG IN THE WILD! WHE NEED TO PROTECT THEM !!
stop this cruel man
Stop animal humans from torturing these animals.
Please ban animal circus acts in all countries.
We do not need this in the 21st Century.
Where is the respect, the love and the responsibility to protect every living creature !? Where is the conscience of mankind to protect everything that lives !
2/9/2015 – we are currently protesting in Porthmadog against “an evening with lions and tigers” and we are currently kicking arse! Very few people are attending each night, only 27 last night bothered to turn up to this despicable spectacle of cruelty.
I believe that with continued protests and an enhanced public awareness we will see this abolished once and for all, not by government intervention but by people power!
I’m really enjoying protesting for a cause I feel do passionately about and my fellow protesters are too.
Please end this now!
The circus will be travelling to Aberystwyth on the 6th September. Please do what you can to end this. Thank you.
Big cats arent meant in cages, or to be trained to perform tricks for a paying public. I think we’ll look back at this in years to come and compare it to slavery. Lets get them back into the wild where they belong, and pay people to protect them in their natural environment.