Bobby Roberts' Circus

narkymare said:
Sorry but i am goign to disagree here.
Not only annie was abused - if you watch the videos the horses were too.
Now i am not an elephant expert so cant comment on annie - but im sure if someone started abusing my horse i would know about it - if they were previously well looked after and suddenly abused woudlnt their personalities change, woudlnt it be obvious to a loving carign owner soemthing was wrong?

At the end of the day the responsibility lies with the owner - he should have ensured his animals were looked after properly - and taken immediate action when it became sureley obvious they werent?

As an example - i have a shih tsu who needs regular clipping.
I once sent him to a local clipper and my poor boy came back very distressed, nervous - woudlnt eat, hid under my bed.

I cannot proove anything but i just know he had suffered an "unpleasant" experience with this groomer - he did nto go back and with every groomer since i spelled out what happened to my boy and i did not - want a repeat experience - ie i looked out for my lad, made sure i looked after my lad by letting people know i could tell immediateley if he had been hurt.

If this elephant had been in this mans care for 50 years, well loved and cared for - sureley he woudl noticed any distress???

Also - the shackling - on an arthritic animal - horrific - im sorry but ive no sympathy for the man at all
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I agree with everything said here. Well put!
 
There are more lovely photos of Anne enjoying her new home in the Mail today. She has settled very quickly.
 
I saw Anne at Longleat on Saturday, enjoying the sun on her back, chucking sand around and getting thoroughly spoilt. Poor girl is very arthritic, but at least she gets a nice retirement.
 
Yes it is great to know she is being so well cared for now. They've raised a lot of money towards the new sanctuary, so hopefully that will go ahead.
 
skewby said:
I am terribly shocked at this claim, have read up a lot on the Spanish Riding School and have tickets to see them this winter. If this is true I definitely need to know more details?
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Don't take my post as a claim - I think the Spanish School freely admit their training methods and at certain times allow folk in to watch. It is by no means torture but in these sensitve days I wonder someone hasn't brought it up before.

And it's Lipizzaner, would never normally pick up on spelling but as you are making such a big accusation, I expected you to get the spelling right. If you've really looked into something, and know fundamental facts about it, it would be so familiar to you, that its correct spelling would come naturally.
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I accept your pedantic correction - kindly put my over ethusiastic use of the alphabet down to working very long hours. However; I find your rejoinder that my argument is somewhat diminished because it's badly spelt ridiculous - or even rickydoodlous. I'm very fond of the quotations of Dr Johnson - he has one suitable to use here :- "one does not need to be a good carpenter to appreciate whether a table is fit to be used as a table."
Thus, I think you'll find that my arguement stands on it's own legs.
 
xemonsus said:
Sorry but i find your reply utter crap 1stclassalan,
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If you are so opposed to my point of view - why the need to apologise?

i have personel first hand knowledge of many traveling circus/ showmen and the people i have met have......... mostly had............higher moral standings than many of the 'normal' folk i grew up with.
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So I may deduce from that "mostly had" - that you also have first hand experience of lesser moral standards too? Your own moral standards are not enhanced by trying to defend an outmoded form of entertainment.

My post doesn't blacken everyone in circus - it merely suggest that the worst elements of society are drawn to it.
 
Ok I haven't visited this thread for while but just noticed it had been re-posted on and noted Skewby's comments as to whether I wanted to watch the videos of abuse that could be seen. Quite frankly no, not really - I personally don't spend all my live long day on the internet or trawling youtube looking for horrible videos of people abusing animals (whether in a circus or not). I work full time, I have horses as a hobby and, on an evening i come on here and see what people are up to. i watch the one show as that is what time I get in if not riidng and this is the who i saw the interview on and hence the start of this thread!

The reason for the thread was really not to dispute the cruelty that went on when ONE person was seen to abuse this elephant, the point was I was amazed how quickly people jumped on a band wagon and felt they could start threatening other people based on something they had been shown on TV without having even heard the other side of the story THAT was the point!!! It's not like the circus is new for gods sake, it's been around for over half a century yet it takes one clip like this to make people get angry and decide circuses are cruel!

I don't dispute the animal was mistreated in THAT clip shown but I am not in a position to say she was abused every day of her life for 50 odd years. In fact I very much doubt that to be honest. The point is, times have changed, over 5 years ago it was normal for exotic animals to be in circuses, these days it is not seen as acceptable but to these circus people if was a way of life. Whether that's right or wrong - who decides? I don't necessarily agree with animals being in zoos but they are.

As for the mention of other acts of cruelty in circuses and the like, i am wondering what we would see if we set up a video camera on a yard of horses - a normal yard, not even a competition one - would be interesting to see how many horses are whacked and shouted at on a daily basis. Is this any different to abusing an elephant in a circus??

I am not going to waste more of my friday evening on this thread (I shall get back to my wine) I will say though I saw the clip of Annie tonight on, again, The One Show. Showed her enjoying herself at Longleat and funnily the head keeper said what good condition she was in when she arrived and stated how "He (Bobbi) mus have been doing something right". I found that interesting as, in my mind a distressed, abused animal would not be in a good state. Bobbi and his wife also were there to visit her and she certainly didn't seem 'upset' that they were they.

Anyway, that's my last 10pence worth on this matter. Maybe I am just someone who prefers to give people the benefit of the doubt, who knows.
 
A lot of money has been raised for the Elephant Sanctuary intended for Longleat, but they still need a considerable amount more to reach the target.
 
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