The circus is coming, and not everyone is happy

Google Garden Bros. Circus and the results are unsettling. From a Yelp page with a 2-star review to multiple articles detailing the abuse of animals and several Better Business Bureau complaints, Garden Bros.’ reputation is headline news.

All controversy aside, this 100-year- old Sarasota, Florida-based circus will be performing this weekend at the Park Expo & Conference Center, starting Oct. 25.

Proclaiming to be the “Most Epic Show on Earth,” Garden Bros Circus will have performers from over 22 countries, racing camels, Earth’s largest elephants and the smallest horses in the world.

And it’s one local woman’s mission to make this show its last in the Queen City.

For attorney Kristen Moyer, animal activism is her life’s mission. Currently volunteering as the district leader for the 12th Congressional District for the Humane Society of the U.S., Moyer has never supported the circus.

“It’s an outdated, cruel industry that profits off of the enslavement and abuse of animals. Animals used in circuses and traveling displays suffer tremendously,” Moyer said.

Garden Bros. didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Moyer began protesting the circus more than a decade ago, when she first moved to Charlotte from Los Angeles.

“I was shocked to find out that the PTA at my son’s school was paying for the whole kindergarten to go to Ringling Bros,” Moyer said. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus shut down in 2017.

So with that, Moyer and her son made protest signs and gathered documents from CompassionWorks International to urge the community to stop supporting circuses with animal acts.

“The history of abuse of these animals is well documented,” Moyer said.

A series of citations against Garden Bros. has been documented by several animal rights organizations, including PETA and the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.

These reports detail a series of incidents that span across many states and countries including: escaped elephants in Ontario, Canada, in 2007, horses found wounded and underfed in Massachusetts and the mysterious death of a baby zebra in 2012.

In 2017, an in-depth whistleblower complaint by a former employee recalls “routine abuse, neglect, and public endangerment by the circus’s manager and animal exhibitors.”

Beyond the animal-related incidents, the reports also include details of Niles Garden’s 2009 arrest on felony fraud charges after multiple events were canceled without notice, several lawsuits for failure to pay venues and just last year, a post-show employee fight involving a firearm.

While many states and municipalities have enacted bans on equipment used for animal training or the use of animals during performances, the city of Charlotte has not.

“Many cities have enacted a ban on bullhooks; circuses will not come to that city because they admit that they cannot get the animals to perform without that intimidation,” Moyer said.

According to the Federal Circus Bill, there are 92 partial or full bans on performing animals in 32 states. While North Carolina is on the list, only Asheville and Orange County banned performing animals.

Moyer has spent the last decade emailing city council members with sample ordinances to encourage them to ban circuses with animal performances. On Monday, she will appear before the council for another opportunity to plead for a ban. She plans to protest the Garden Bros. Circus outside the Park Expo & Conference Center from 3-4 p.m. Sunday.

“We don’t want the circuses to end — we just want them to stop exploiting animals for profit. The animals are not even necessary to provide a great show,” Moyer said.

This story was originally published October 23, 2019 at 5:01 PM.