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WILKES-BARRE — She stood on the corner Monday afternoon , holding a sign and speaking out for what she believes in, just as she has for the last 32 years.
Silvie Pomicter, president of Voice of the Animals, said she wants to educate people about the abuse of circus animals with the goal to get them removed from performing.
“Nobody has ever seen a bear riding a bicycle in the wild,” Pomicter said. “No elephant has ever been seen standing on his head in the wild and no tiger has ever been seen jumping through a hoop of fire. And the only way they do it in the circus is because they are abused and forced to perform tricks.”
Pomicter, a native of Hanover Township now living in Chinchilla, said she and members of her organization will take turns all week to try to get their message out, that animals should not be in the circus.
“This is not O.K.,” a woman shouted to families as they headed into the 109th Field Artillery Armory to see the opening performance of the 68th annual Irem Temple Shrine Circus.
Some of the circus-goers shouted back.
“Keep your mouths shut,” a woman yelled to the protesters. “Don’t talk to my children like that.”
Pomicter said she and the other protesters are used to hearing such comments.
“Some people yell at us,” she said. “Others swear at us. But some people give us a thumb’s up too.”
As a school bus filled with grade school-aged children turned into the parking lot, the protesters shouted, “Make this your last circus.”
In a perfect world, Pomicter said all circus animals would be taken to reputable animal sanctuaries to live a peaceful life. The protesters shouted, some through bullhorns, that the animals in the circus are beaten, shocked and whipped.
“As human beings, we should be ashamed of the way these animals are treated,” Pomicter said. “To allow them to live in box cars and cages and to force them to perform is wrong.”
Pomicter said she hopes that Congress will approve H.R.1759 — the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act. On April 11, it was referred to the subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture.
If passed, the act would amend the Animal Welfare Act to restrict the use of exotic and wild animals in traveling performances, like circuses.
Pomicter said she worries about children who take rides on elephants at the circus.
“Elephants can be startled,” she said. “There have been several incidences where that has happened.”
In 2010, a trainer was killed by an elephant which performed at the Irem Shrine Circus. The death was ruled accidental by the Luzerne County coroner. Officials at the time said the elephant was believed to have been startled by sparks from electrical wires in the ceiling near the elephant.
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus will stop performances at the end of May.
Bryan Monell, who worked for Last Chance for Animals as an undercover investigator, exposed egregious acts by trainers of circus elephants in the 15 years he worked for LCA.
Monell, who now lives in Maryland, said he witnessed animals being beaten with baseball bats.
“I was told if I couldn’t do what it takes to get the animals to perform, I should look for another job,” Monell said in a telephone interview Monday.
Monell said he witnessed many acts that were “shocking.”
On Jan. 14, Kenneth Feld, chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, the producer of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, announced the decision to shut down the circus. The iconic 146-year-old circus will conclude its tours with the final shows in Providence, R.I., on May 7, and Uniondale, N.Y., on May 21.
According to a statement on the Feld Entertainment website, the decision to end the circus tours was made as a result of high costs coupled with a decline in ticket sales, making the circus an unsustainable business for the company. Following the transition of the elephants off the circus, the company saw a decline in ticket sales greater than could have been anticipated.