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Chris Packham Wants To Bring Five Rescued Circus Tigers To The UK

Chris Packham Wants To Bring Five Rescued Circus Tigers To The UK

TV presenter Chris Packham is trying to bring five tigers to Britain - to rescue them from the horrendous conditions of the circus

Mike Wood

Mike Wood

TV presenter Chris Packham and his wife are to try to bring five former circus tigers to the UK in an attempt to expose the cruelty found at travelling circuses.

They had recently been visiting the AAP Animal Advocacy and Protection centre in Alicante, Spain, where animals that have been freed from circuses are kept, reports the Mirror.

Travelling circuses regularly treat their animals badly, with lions and tigers that have outlasted their use as circus animals left to starve and locked away for extended periods of time.

"We found Govani to be skinny, with wounds everywhere," David van Gennep, director of AAP, of one of the lions that was found with his claws ripped out, several teeth removed and who had become so stressed that he had bitten off his own tail.

"He was so emaciated that his bones almost stuck through his skin. And his ankle wound was so rotten, I looked straight at the joint. Govani was about to perish."

A lion with broken teeth.
AAP

"When I looked at him, sitting in front of the window, he slowly walked towards me," remembered David. "He sat near me, his head touching the glass. It is unimaginable that he is still looking for a relationship with man, after all that has been done to him.

"We will do everything we can to help him. How beautiful it would be if Govani could soon be a strong, powerful lion again. A real king of animals."

Chris Packham, who made his name as a conservationist on television, was shocked by the condition that he encountered. "This is desperate. Why is this still happening? Because we still have circuses in Europe with wild animals," he said.

"Many circus animals do not survive even if they have been rescued - these are the lucky ones that do eventually get out."

Chris and his wife are attempting to highlight the plight of circus animals by adopting five tigers and re-housing them in the UK, at the Isle of Wight zoo. This will require a massive extension to the tiger enclosure, which is expected to cost £100,000.

Pablo Delgado, who leads the big cat team at AAP, introduced Chris to a tiger that had been rescued.

"This tiger has something wrong with her paws. It is likely they have been burnt on a hot plate," he told the Mirror.

"Circuses sometimes train the tigers to step backwards and forwards by using hot plates, so the animals will learn not to do it again if it hurts."

"Travelling circuses make it impossible to ensure the welfare of the animals. We just need them to be banned. The good thing is that more and more people are feeling like it is from the past, that it isn't normal."

Animals have been banned from circuses in Scotland and in many municipalities in England and Wales, but there is no blanket ban in the UK. Over 1,000 animals are thought to be in use with circuses all over Europe, predominantly lions, tigers, elephants and primates.

Featured Image Credit: AAP

Topics: UK News, Animals