GEORGE NEWS - Despite protests by concerned animal lovers and a last-minute cancellation of the first scheduled show in George, the McLaren circuses in George and Oudtshoorn were well supported this past weekend. Owner David McLaren was pleased with the outcome.
"Both towns came out in their thousands and filled up the McLaren Circus big top. This year's show was better supported in George than our last visit in 2016, and Oudtshoorn remained sold out." But in George, issues regarding a safety permit almost turned into a circus.
Some 300 people had to go home on Thursday without so much as laying an eye on a lion, because the safety permit was made out for the wrong date.
Admin mistake
McLaren said an inspection took place on the eve of Thursday night's opening. "My head office did not inform them of our plan to open up earlier. We originally applied for the 25th but later changed to the 24th."
George fire chief, Neels Barnard, said that they are required to do safety checks because the circus is a temporary structure and not a fixed building. While the application was received on 12 January, stating the shows would be from 25 till 27 January, no amendment dates were received to correct the application. "Based on that information received, the safety inspection was scheduled for 24 January, a day before the opening."
Many parents were angry that they had to leave with their confused and very disappointed children. One parent, Hennie Janse van Rensburg, tried to find out what happened. He told George Herald that someone from the fire department showed up with a letter to stop the show.
"How am I going to explain an admin mistake to my child? Because that is what we were told - that an admin mistake was the reason we could not see the show. And not everyone could see the show on the other dates." He explained that everything was set up, with the fire department present, when a lady showed up and just stopped everything.
"We even asked if the fire chief can't come to change the date if it was something as insignificant as a wrong date."
McLaren said apart from the issue of the date, there were a few other concerns and both parties decided it would be better to cancel the opening show. "We then did the amendments and opened the next day."
The permit that allowed the show to go ahead.
'Spec'-and-span
McLaren told George Herald they received the correct safety permit at 13:00 on Friday and after that, not even the "greenies" protesting outside the tent could stop them from going ahead. "The 'greenies' will always be there. They will always protest and campaign against my circus. And they have every right to express their personal views."
The SPCA also came round to check if everything was according to spec. "They spent three hours on my arrival on 24 January, monitoring my set-up. They also attended my 15:00 show on 25 January to monitor the handling of my animals during the show," said McLaren.
To compensate those who had to be turned away on Thursday, their tickets were changed to dates for the weekend shows and cash refunds were made to the few who could not attend over the weekend.
Read a related article here: Why the SPCA is opposed to wild animals in circuses
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