Send in the Clowns, but Leave Those Lions and Elephants Alone

Heather Herman doesn’t hate the circus. She has no problem with clowns or the men on the flying trapeze, but she draws the line at leaping lions and prancing pachyderms.

And if she has her way, the circus won’t be coming to town.

The high school freshman gathered enough signatures last month to put a question on Denver’s Aug. 10 ballot asking residents to ban performances by exotic animals.

“I believe animals do not belong in the circus, that they shouldn’t perform, shouldn’t have clothes put on them or have people riding on them,” said Heather, 15. “To make animals perform you train them, and to train them you must break them, which requires physical force.”

Such talk has alarmed Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which has been coming to Denver since 1919 and now spends two weeks a year in the city.

They enlisted Blinky the Clown, a local television personality and longtime ringmaster, to help fend off the assault.

“I think the whole thing is ridiculous,” said Blinky, also known as Russell Scott, 82. “I never saw anyone train an animal by beating it. Now, I won’t stand here and say no one has ever hit an animal. Maybe some idiot hit a zebra with a board once to make it move or something, but it’s not normal.”

Residents are also mobilizing.

Ron Sanchez, 23, helped start the Save the Circus Foundation with a website dedicated to defeating the initiative.

“I go to the circus every year. It’s part of Denver history,” he said. “As a kid growing up, I loved to watch the elephants. The circus is animals; it’s part of our culture. I worry about raising my kids in Denver if there is no circus.”

It’s all mind-boggling to Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown.

He’s concerned that his beloved city, once a rough-hewn cow town, is gaining a reputation for flakiness.

Last year, a devotee of transcendental meditation got a measure on the ballot calling for the city to reduce stress by pumping sitar music into office buildings. It failed.

“I firmly believe the ballot process is getting out of hand,” Brown said. “I think it’s getting wacky, like California.”

He said residents should need at least 10,000 signatures to get something onto the ballot, rather than the current 6,000. In any case, he likes the circus, the $8 million it generates each year and the 400 jobs it provides.

“What’s the circus supposed to do?” he asked. “Leave the animals on the train?”

Feld Entertainment, which owns Ringling Bros., denied any mistreatment of animals and said the circus would skip Denver if the measure passed.

“The bottom line is that Heather is wrong,” said Tom Albert, vice president of government relations for Feld. “I don’t question her sincerity, but I think she has bad information.”

Once a circusgoer, Heather said she became increasingly appalled as she learned more about what she believes are abusive animal-training techniques. At age 13, she started Youth Opposed to Animal Acts, which aims to rid the world of performances by exotic animals. Similar bans have been passed in nearby Boulder and Estes Park.

“People say the circus is part of American culture, but at the same time don’t we have a culture that requires us to be more humane and be more civilized?” she asked. “The circus should be progressing, not becoming outdated.”

Critics say Heather has fallen under the spell of radical animal rights groups, a charge she dismisses.

“This was my idea,” she said. “I don’t think anyone’s rights are being taken away. If people want to see animals, they can go to the zoo. It’s a little bit more natural anyway.”

David Crawford, executive director of Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, a Boulder-based group dedicated to protecting wildlife, said it was cynical to assume Heather was a pawn for other interests.

“I think her critics should have more faith in people,” he said.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals applauded Herman. “We have not been dealing with Heather, though we find it extremely admirable that she has taken this on at such a young age,” said Lisa Wathne, PETA’s expert on the treatment of circus animals.

John Kirtland, who directs animal training for Feld Entertainment, invited Heather to see how it’s done. She declined, saying the circus would only show her what it wanted her to see.

Kirtland said trainers use rewards and praise, not physical coercion. Lions and tigers, he said, live 10 years longer at Ringling than in the wild.

“You want the animal to work with you with a bond of trust and respect. To do that you need a nurturing environment,” he said. “The truth is this ban does nothing to advance animal care or welfare. If they really cared, they’d want the animals to come to Denver to see how they are treated.”

Meanwhile, Councilman Brown is busy fending off hate mail from supporters of the ban.

“They tell me they’ll put me on a billboard beside a dead elephant,” he said wearily. “One lady said, ‘Why don’t you join the circus and see what it’s like?’ ”