| Issue #16 - July 11, 2008 |
Wild Animals Back!
Circus in Southampton at Shinnecock Reservation on July 14 & 15
By Dan Rattiner
Every summer for the past 80 years, the circus has come to town. They have set up their Big Top on the grounds of the VFW Hall on County Road 39 in Southampton, stayed there for two nights, and then moved on to the next town.
This year, The Cole Brothers Circus to the Stars is in Bay Shore on July 11, 12 and 13, then in Greenport on July 16 and 17, and in between they will not be at the VFW Hall in Southampton at all. The place will be dark.
Instead, on the two days of July 14 and 15, a Monday and Tuesday, the circus will take place in a foreign country. That would be the Shinnecock Indian Reservation, four miles away, which, with its own rules and regulations, is welcoming the circus with open arms, allowing them to bring on the elephants - what's a circus without elephants? - and not requiring them to adhere to the draconian measures that politicians have put in the path of the circus here in recent years.
This little bit of brilliance is a win-win situation for everybody. Money will be raised for the reservation, which is very badly needed. The children will be able to see a real circus. There won't be parking problems on the highway. And the circus will once again be allowed to have all of the animal acts that they could not have during the last three years, which PETA had campaigned relentlessly and successfully to get Southampton authorities to prohibit.
Make no mistake. PETA aimed all their efforts at Southampton. In each of the other towns on Long Island the circus comes to, there are all the regular animal acts with the lions and tigers and elephants. Southampton has stood alone with their prohibitions.
Of course, the kids and parents came to the circus anyway here in Southampton, but boy, was it a pathetic shadow of what this circus is capable of. Arriving here from Patchogue, the circus performers would, sadly, come without their big wild animals, instead keeping all of them an extra two days in Patchogue, and then sending them to Mattituck to rest up until the shadow of a circus finished in Southampton and moved on to the North Fork.
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Southampton Considers the Shinnecocks
One of the big changes that happened over the winter and spring was the bond that has begun to form between the Shinnecocks, the county and the Town of Southampton. It has coincided with the election of Linda Kabot as Supervisor of Southampton, but I am not sure if that is the cause of this. The town negotiated, along with the Shinnecocks, to set rules and regulations regarding the property the Shinnecocks own in Hampton Bays. They then moved to purchase land that the Shinnecocks believe is sacred Indian ground so it can be preserved forever and ever. Now, we understand there have been meetings between the Shinnecocks and the town to discuss the possibility of the Shinnecocks running a casino, which everybody believes should be, if it is ever to be, at the former Grumman site in the Town of Riverhead. I presume Riverhead officials are involved in this, too. And now the change of venue has happened for the circus. And I cannot believe that the town wasn't involved in this in some way.
On the other side, the Shinnecocks have an inspiring leader in Lance Gumbs, who is not afraid to say what he wants, and yet is able to work with the Town to make compromises. In terms of cooperation, this is a 180-degree turn from the decades of hostility between these two entities, seemingly on a dime, and it is a very welcome development.
--DR
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There has been something very ridiculous about the circus during these last three years. The animals, who, frankly, seem to love to perform, are not allowed to because there is fear they might get hurt. Meanwhile, the humans do perform, getting shot out of cannons, swinging hula hoops while standing on high wires and doing dangerous acrobatics and motorcycle wheelies inside giant cylinders, none of which is very safe.
This is so upside-down. Everything everybody does is dangerous. Driving in your car to the circus is dangerous. Playing baseball is dangerous. Even sitting in the stands on the first base line is dangerous. And being a circus performer is dangerous.
However, after PETA's demonstrations and pamphlets and petitions and speeches, the town officials will allow humans to risk their lives, but not the wild animals. The domesticated animals, on the other hand, are exempt, so you have dog acts and cat acts, and maybe pet fish acts and flea circuses.
The rationale is that the circus humans know the risks they are taking while the wild animals, dumb as they are, do not. Thus, circus animals suffer from exploitation. And while the circus owners rake in the bucks, all the animals get is hay or a sugar lump. It's slavery. Only in Southampton.
So, hooray for the Shinnecock Indian Reservation and the laws of that land, and hooray for the circus, which will be in our midst for two days, Monday and Tuesday, July 14 and 15. And hooray for the kids, who will get to see what a circus is really like.
See you there. I love the circus.
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