New investigation at Parc Saint Léger: nothing has changed for animals at the settled circus

Nothing, or almost nothing, has changed since two muntjacs, a porcupine, a swan, two macaws, four tortoises, and a python were seized last year, which happened thanks to our investigators’ footage and our complaint for mistreatment. Far from taking a good look at themselves, the Saint-Léger-en-Braye settled circus continues to exploit the animals that they exhibit without changing any of their living conditions.

When the park is open, the ring-tailed lemurs have groups of fifteen to twenty people coming through their enclosure. The whole crowd is talking to each other. Led by the adults, some of the scared children cry while others shout with excitement and their ‘caregiver’ does not ask them to calm down. There is also no warning of the very real risk of zoonotic diseases, while visitors feed the animals perched on their shoulders by hand. Invaded from all sides, the ring-tailed lemurs have to endure these stressful moments if they want to eat, even if it means getting trampled. A scenario that is not improbable, since even the member of staff who shows them around the enclosure admits to having stepped on one of the lemurs’ tails earlier in the day. A surreal scene!

Raccoons who try to escape

In the raccoons’ miniature enclosure, the bowls are empty and wooden planks and concrete slabs litter the floor as a distraction. They have no trees and no swimming area to use, while in the wild they love climbing, swimming, and travel over a distance from one to three square kilometres. How surprising is it in such conditions that one of them, staring at us with his piercing gaze through the mesh, seems to be desperately looking for a big enough gap to escape through?

Lions and tigers still kept captive but not on the park map

Although Parc Saint Léger has not presented an elephant show since the ones Baby was forced to do in 2019 and seems to have abandoned the performances during which they brought a spectator into the lionesses cage, the trained big cats are still there. You could believe the opposite given that the lions and tigers no longer feature on the settled circus’ map or among the photos of the animals kept...

Shut up in an enclosure that does not allow them to hide or find any shade, all suffering from sterotypies, expressing their stress and boredom by the comings and goings that leave long, bare paths in the middle of the grass of these open-air prisons.

Nothing, neither the revelations from our investigations, nor the rescue nor the reminders to competent authorities, seems to have an effect on Kid Bauer. Are they waiting for the trainer to take an example from his brother and send his prisoners to die elsewhere, like at Belvédère, the Tunisian zoo where Gilbert Bauer abandoned Baby? Parc Saint Léger must close and all of the animals there must be placed into a sanctuary.

Every time, our footage has revealed the disastrous consequences for these animals. In 2023, the situation has hardly changed. For the pumas, giant tortoises, kangaroos, and all of the others, we are once again filing a complaint against the establishment.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice