Zippos Circus to return to Hove Lawns as Council rejects animal rights campaign to ban the show.

21/9/17
Zippos Circus is delighted by Brighton and Hove City Council’s decision, made today, 21 September 2017, not to alter its Animal Welfare Charter following the presentation of a public petition earlier this year by animal rights activists seeking to ban performing circus animals on its land.

The Executive Director’s report submitted to the Council’s Tourism, Development & Culture Committee at a Committee meeting today noted that all the appropriate animal husbandry is in place at Zippos Circus and that the Council’s Animal Warden team visit annually and every inspection has found satisfactory standards of animal welfare.

Additionally all Zippos performing animals are registered and mention was given to a vet report from August 2017 which states that the horses are extremely well cared for and exceed all minimum criteria for welfare standards. It recommended that the Charter remain unchanged.

Zippos Circus presented the Committee Meeting with a petition signed by over 2000 local residents supporting its circus with animals returning to the area. The animal rights petition was signed by several hundred fewer people, and its false premise was questioned in the Executive Director’s Report as it purported to list 354 Local Authorities indicating their current policies in respect of performing animals and circuses. Council officers contacted 11 authorities which were indicated as imposing an outright ban and found that this was not the case.

Martin ‘Zippo’ Burton, commented, “Zippos Circus has been appearing on Hove Lawns for many years. We welcome constructive criticism and are always seeking to improve but this petition was created and supported by a minority of very vocal animal rights supporters who are opposed to the use of animals in everything from food to clothing (wool and leather) and even protest outside British Heart Foundation shops

The petition is based on moral, not welfare, grounds and its supporters aggressively seek to impose their extreme political agenda on everyone. They are not representative of the tens of thousands of people who have visited us and derived much pleasure from doing so.

We very much look forward to returning to Hove Lawns in 2018 and welcoming families and tourists to our proudly animal inclusive show.”

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For further information contact:
Julia Knight, 07956 503728
Email: [email protected]

Photographs of Zippos Circus animals are available from the Press Area of our website: http://zippos.co.uk/press