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Arna's Plight
Date Posted: 17 Sep 2001 Latest update - court date set Both nationally and internationally her supporters are asking - what has happened about ARNA and the court case brought by Animal Liberation against NSW Government and Stardust Circus? Well we are happy to report it is finally moving along - despite the prolonged absence of Stardust in Western Australia and delaying tactics which stretched the preliminary court mentions to five separate appearances. Date for the actual Hearing has now been set for 8 April 2002 at the Downing Centre in Sydney. The case is expected to run for at least two weeks and both sides will be calling many witnesses including overseas experts. The grounds for the case are firstly that both the NSW Government and Stardust Circus are in breach of Standards for Exhibiting Circus Animals in NSW in that they permitted the keeping of a solitary elephant. And secondly that Stardust Circus committed an act of cruelty in that they authorised the visit of three elephants from another circus and then without warning removed the elephants, causing enormous distress to ARNA. ARNA's response to the visiting elephants and her anguish when they were taken away were captured on video and this video is an important item of evidence in this case. Court cases are costly and must be met from whatever funds Animal Liberation can raise by stalls and donations from the public. International interest is very high and there is no doubt a win for ARNA will send ripples around the world and have an impact wherever exotic animals are kept captive in circuses. It is without doubt a landmark case. If you are able to help please send your cheque or money order to Animal Liberation at Locked Bag 18/202 Newtown NSW 2042 Australia. Please indicate that your donation is for ARNA and it will be used only for this purpose. Or Credit card donations may be made via the Animal Liberation website(http://www.animal-lib.org.au) by clicking on the menu item 'make a donation'.
Date Posted: 17 May 2002 Media Release -- Arna Case MEDIA RELEASE Magistrate accepts expert testimony that Arna suffered a state of distress, which is clearly within the Act's definition of pain. Animal Liberation is most likely to appeal against a magistrate's dismissal of its case for Arna the solitary circus elephant. Animal Liberation executive director Mark Pearson said because the court had found that Arna suffered from distress and pain it was imperative that the court see this matter through to finality. "The magistrate's decision to dismiss the case on a point of law, where he believes that the prosecution must show that the defendant deliberately intended to cause cruelty is, in our legal counsel's view, profoundly flawed and therefore we will very seriously consider appeal to the Supreme Court." During the week the court heard expert testimony that Arna, who has been on her own since mid 1996 (despite NSW law preventing this), was suffering. Veterinarian expert in captive wildlife behaviour Dr Sara Winikoff said: "Keeping a social sentient being like an elephant in solitary confinement is unnatural and inhumane as it provides no opportunity for natural interaction which is necessary for mental and physical well being. The distress that Arna experienced on the day in question demonstrates the circus irresponsibility to public safety and Arna's welfare. We are an enlightened society where suffering and exploitation of human and non human animals is not entertainment." International veterinarian wildlife expert Dr Simon Adams said: "In my professional opinion the Arna videotape evidence demonstrates a definitive case of distress in a circus elephant, which it appears the magistrate accepted. Hopefully if nothing else, we have helped people to understand the complex behaviour and communication of this highly intelligent social species, which will facilitate improvements in their welfare."
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2002 ARNA'S FIRST VICTORY -- A STEP TOWARDS FREEDOM ANIMAL LIBERATION WINS SUPREME COURT APPEAL This morning Justice Windeyer of The Supreme Court of NSW handed down a decision upholding the grounds of Appeal of Animal Liberation NSW. He set aside the decision of magistrate Lyon's finding that Animal Liberation had to prove the circus intended to be cruel and remitted the case to the magistrate to hear in full 'according to law' when the circus will have to answer to the prosecutions for cruelty. He also ordered that the defendant (circus) pay Animal Liberation NSW's legal costs. Importantly Justice Windeyer relied also on prior decisions in both the Supreme and Appeals courts. He noted the following ruling by Justice Dowd; "The offences created, in my view, are created with the purposeful legislative intention of protecting animals, in most cases totally unable to protect themselves from a range of activities which contemplate certain circumstances in which the court would have to evaluate whether reasonable steps have been taken." [to prevent cruelty] The Stardust Circus will now have to answer the charges in the District court early 2003. Animal Liberation will, with the help of all you supporters, keep fighting for Arna until she shares, at least, the freedom of an open range zoo with another asiatic female elephant. This is a real possibility. The NSW government is, at this moment, building a large enclosure for asiatic elephants at Dubbo Open Plains zoo. The one female and one male asiatic elephants are going there from Taronga Zoo. Our hope, our campaign for Arna is not too difficult to achieve.
Date Posted: 30 Aug 2003 ARNA IS NO LONGER ALONE Arna now has a new friend. Her name is Gigi and is a retired elephant from Ashton's circus which has now moved away from using exotic animals. Gigi became solitary as well after her two companions, Abu and Tanya, died in the last nine months. Reports are that Arna and Gigi are getting on well and communicating with each other. This must be such a wonderful improvement for Arna to no longer be so desperately lonely. The enormous pressure put on Stardust circus from everyone's support for the campaign and court case has, no doubt, helped Arna and now Gigi. The cruelty case involving the distress to Arna caused by the circus in December 2000 is still yet to be finalised when the Downing Centre court lists it in accordance with Supreme Court Justice Windeyer's Orders after we won the Appeal. But the campaign is not over. Though we welcome this great improvement for Arna, the campaign to ban all circuses which have wild animals continues and the animals to be housed in sanctuaries (which we have in Australia) where they can live the rest of their days free from abuse and totally unacceptable environments. what the experts say | what you can do Thank you to Animal Liberation - New South Wales for the above information.
Update Elephant crushes circus worker in YambaAn elephant at the centre of much controversy in 2004-2005, because she was kept as a sole animal, crushes trainer. The truth may never be known but elephants have 'long memories' .... 27 December 2007 A circus employee has been crushed by an elephant in Yamba, on the north coast of New South Wales. Police say the man was tending to two elephants in an animal exercise enclosure at the Yamba showground when he was killed. Nobody witnessed the incident and the details are still unclear. The victim, who was in his sixties, worked as an animal handler at the circus. He was found with an injury to his back and ambulance officers say the man died of a heart attack. The WorkCover Authority will investigate the death. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/27/2127999.htm
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