Courtney Brothers Circus Protest Day 1

July 6^th 2013 marks the beginning of a set of protests on Liam Mellows Avenue, Arklow, County Wicklow,  that has been set up in an attempt to bring the attention of the public to the mistreatment of  the animals that the  Courtney Brothers Circus, a circus which was formerly known as the Great European Circus in 2008 and prior to this year it bared the name; The Royal Russian Circus and finally in 2011 a third name change takes place to the present name, keeps in captivity for the purpose in performing in the shows that are hosted by this group. Notable examples of the mistreatment of animals by the hands of the Circus Group include the poor living conditions that the animals face whilst they are being kept by the Circus as an article in the Irish Daily Mirror notates the Circus’ inability to provide adequate living space for the animals that the Courtney Brothers Circus group houses in its headline through making a reference to the reaction of a photo which shows the tigers living in a steel cage which was that of great anger towards the group and absolute horror at the pictures which are described as pitiful by the headline in the article. It should be noted that while the picture clearly shows the tigers’ living space as being rather poor, spokesman for the Animal Rights Action Network states that the existence of these tigers has been narrowed down to nothing more than living in a small steel cage with nothing more than a solitary tire for their mental stimulation, Courtney Brothers Circus has made counter claims against the claim of animal cruelty as member of the Circus, Jim Conway questions the motivation of the photograph as he notes that it gives a negative impression and he also notes that not only are the tigers living conditions suitable for their needs, he gives the opposite picture to the one that is shown in the photograph as he notes that the tigers live in big cages with water and a large amount of tires to play with along with mentioning the dimensions of the travelling trailer for the tigers which are 45 feet by 8 feet, stating that the tigers are not being mistreated whatsoever.

                                                                  

One of the banners held by a protester which depicts an image similar to that shown in the article describing the poor living conditions of the tigers

The protest on the sixth of July 2013 was a peaceful protest, in which a small group of people, a maximum of twelve people, came down to present various banners which presented various pictures and captions which were on the subject of the animal cruelty within circuses. The protest did not extend beyond the people in attendance standing at the designated spot for the protest, across the road from the circus, and holding up their banners regardless of any intimidation at the hands of people who were either in support of the circus or from members of the circus in general. Minor examples of intimidation can be found on an article that was published by the WicklowNews.net which includes certain remarks being made by a man and his wife who noted that Ireland was in a Recession and that the attention of the protesters was focused on the animals rather than on the issue that the couple thought was important. Another example of intimidation came from a parent with three children who shouted at the group of protests prior to entering the circus to view the performance. The protesters ignored this intimidation and any support that was given to the group of people, this came in the form of people beeping the horns of their cars as they drove by and shouting words of encouragement at the group of protesters.

Protesters waving and holding up their banners in reaction to the support given by the drivers who were passing by

As the protest went on, two members of the Courtney Brothers Circus walked across the road to the designated spot where the protest was taking place and posed right in front of the group for another member of the Circus who was standing in front of the entrance to the circus with a camera. While there is a variety of ways to interpret this action, one of the actions which could be quite likely is that this is another act of intimidation and perhaps even an attempt at Propaganda as their presence among the group of protesters would have destabilised the air somewhat within the group and possibly increase the likelihood of one person or a number of people reacting to their presence in a negative manner. This negative reaction is possibly what the picture the photographer standing at the entrance of the circus was hoping to capture as such a picture would change the viewpoint of the public with regards the protest as the public would most likely think of the protesters as an extremist animal rights group. So far their attempts at intimidation and propaganda have been quite unsuccessful as there was no reaction whatsoever to the presence of the two men when they did their pose right in front of the group of protesters. The attempt at propaganda was also recorded by a member of the protest which not only shows the two men walking over and doing the pose, but it also shows the photographer who was taking pictures from across the road.

The two men posing in front of the group

                                             Video recording of the propaganda attempt

Aside from the small events in which different people attempted to intimidate the group of protesters there was very little opposition to the group of protesters as they stood in their designated area and there was seemingly a large amount of support for the group of protesters as people drove by and gave their words of encouragement to the group and some people were interested in the protest as it continued. A significant example included the young people who were present at the protest as their friends who were walking by, took an interest in the protest and went over to the young people at the protest and the young people who were participating in the protest and their friends discussed the banner that the young people were holding and the general protest that was at hand.

In my general opinion, the first day of the protests that commenced at 19:00 on the sixth of July 2013 was quite successful in the sense that the majority of people who walked by the group of people who were participating in the protest gave their support to the protesters through beeping and waving at the protesters while they drove by and through shouting words of encouragement at the protesters. The only negativity that was present with regards the protest was the minor events in which the group was intimidated by the people who were in support of the circus along with the possible propaganda attempt that was being done by the circus itself. 

References

• Article about the living conditions of the tigers: http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/outrage-circus-tigers-tiny-cages-1990908
• Facebook page of the protesters: https://www.facebook.com/events/159137384270971/?notif_t=plan_reminder
• History of circus: http://www.irishcircuses.org/great-european-circus