In a statement sent out to the press, the BE “criticised and denounced” the situation, and said it “reiterates its rejection of the exploitation and torture of animals for the purpose of entertaining the human species”, as it made evident in its 2012 campaign ‘A Real Circus has no Animals’.
The party stressed that, even though the circus in question has since moved on, “in line with other municipal organisms as well as political groups, associations and citizens, we hereby express our enormous displeasure at the setting up of a circus with animals in this municipality, taking into account the exploitation and torture of several species of animals, some endangered, exploited in intolerable conditions from birth until they cease to serve the commercial purpose of which they are the subject: the entertainment of the human species and the consequent enrichment of those who mistreat and inflict pain and trauma to these species.”
In the Left Bloc’s view “the fact a circus is using private land as opposed to public land does not attenuate nor does it eliminate the mistreatment to which the animals are subjected.”
The BE’s statement emphatically concluded by stating “it is necessary to protect those who don’t have a voice. We need a municipality that is free of shows involving animals.”
In 2014, Funchal, the largest city on the Portuguese island of Madeira, took the unprecedented step of banning all circuses that involve live animals from setting up in the municipality.
Last May, Faro council turned down a circus’s request for a licence to set up in that city due to “matters of hygiene and salubrity”.
Faro Mayor Rogério Bacalhau said at the time that the circus had wanted to pitch next to a crèche and that the council had received lots of complaints from local residents.
The decision was applauded by the association Citizens for Circuses without Animals (CCSA).
Prior to that, in September 2014, a motion was put forward by the Faro social democrats PSD/Faro, which appealed to the council to “keep Faro city clean of cruelty and exploitation of animals for human recreation.”
The motion was approved by Faro Municipal Assembly.
Last year Mayor Bacalhau said the council would analyse each individual request that is submitted for licensing.
However, on its Facebook page the association earlier this month issued a joint statement, along with the animal protection associations PRAVI and APA, in which it said: “Ignoring the wishes of the population (…) a circus with animals has once again set up in Faro, this time on private land.
“Besides failing to comply with medical and veterinary requirements on animal and transport well-being ‘a priori’, and failing to observe opinions of public safety and other possible conditions, the same circus also permeated the county with unlicensed advertising, particularly at roundabouts, violating the current Highway Code.”
But, the statement read, “The rejection of this circus is linked, above all, to the fact that it is an affront to one of the few cities in the country which states, by motion, to not accept performances that exploit non-humans”.