New investigation at Parc Saint Léger where cats are visible from the road
At the end of February 2022, we went back to Parc Saint Léger, which was looking for a buyer and closed for the winter, to film the animals.
Following our complaint in August 2021 for the lemurs and big cats at Parc Saint Léger, we went back there at the end of February 2022. Indeed, the advert in the press putting the park up for sale and the winter closure were concerning to us when it came to the state of the animals.
Our investigators knew the place well. They have been there regularly since Spring 2019 when we published our first images of Parc Saint Léger and of Parc Saint Paul where we saw tigers being passed from one person to another for photos. Our complaint against Kid Bauer, the boss and big cat trainer, is incidentally still ongoing, and still current. Since, the investigations have come one after another in the area: Baby, owned by Gilbert Bauer, Kid’s brother, and the ten tigers in a lorry, belonging to Mario Masson, who had once had hired his services and tigers out (if not more) to Parc Saint Paul…
When they arrived there, our investigators immediately saw the tigers and lions from the road, pacing up and down in the lorry-cage; the foliage was sparse in winter.
It was impossible for them to approach the animals this time however, for obvious reasons. The park was closed to the public and with the family of circus performers having settled their circus there and having lived there for eight years, the circumstances were not the best for a ‘close-up’ investigation.
But with a bit of distance, it is still possible to see things and, in a twist of fate, this allows an even better understanding of reality. The establishment, previously called ‘Parc des Félins’ [Big Cat Park], is situated on the edge of a roundabout, where the secondary road leads to the entrance of the main road that links Beauvais with Rouen. Trucks and cars drive quickly along here. Day and night, the lions, tigers, panthers, tortoise, lemurs and other farm animals are therefore submitted to a noise level that is far from negligible, as well as to the traffic pollution. This is a far from rural environment.
The lionesses, the white lion, as well as the tigers are closed in the lorry-cage almost all day and pace up and down (‘pace’ is not only a turn of phrase here: they can only take three paces before bumping into a fence again) …
The circuses, whether travelling or settled, are hell for the animals who are locked up in them. They are synonymous with captivity, boredom, training, serious injuries, illnesses, separation of babies from their mothers, absence of choice, dependency, and a lack of privacy. But also very often — and confirmation of this is due to the experience of our proceedings — with irregularities regarding regulations, undeclared work, trafficking…
Settled circuses are not affected by the law that has just been passed, a godsend for many trainers who will settle. For the others, the implementing decree has still not been published… and reproduction will still be permitted for several more years yet (and will fuel the trafficking that is already happening), in the knowledge that it will suffice for the animals to remain at the mercy of the trainers who will later settle or leave to go abroad…
We are considering sending a new complaint to supplement the one that is already ongoing, with regard to these new images, where one of the lionesses is being hit with an iron bar by a member of staff.
Translated from the French by Joely Justice