Circus owner Brian Boswell hit by more controversy

This follows a number of appeals having being made to Boswell to release Opal, an Orangutan, who has been caged for 36 lonely years at the Natal Zoological Gardens just outside Pietermaritzburg.

According to the SPCA, Opal is housed in a concrete enclosure with “minimal environmental enrichment”.

Boswell, who is the owner of Brian Boswell Circus and the Natal Zoo, has been plagued by controversy and criticism concerning the well being and care of zoo and circus animals.

Last Week Boswell’s wife Jane, their daughter Georgina, and elephant handler David Marais, appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court for allegedly contravening the Animal Protection Act.

The charges against them relate to an incident during December 2012 where employees were filmed allegedly beating and chaining elephants at a school.

SPCA Chief Inspector Cheri Cooke, who is involved in assessing the well being of caged animals, told ANA that they wanted Opal to get relocated to Monkeyworld, a rescue and rehabilitation centre situated in Dorset in the United Kingdom.

Cooke said that the SPCA has asked Boswell for many years to release Opal to a dedicated primate sanctuary.

“I personally appealed to him for the first time three years ago, and again last week – his answer is still no,” she said.

Cooke said that no natural life exists for Opal, who belongs to a species which ranks among the most intelligent of all primates.

“Each day she is released from her sleeping cage into her daytime cell. There on a meager patch of grass with a makeshift ‘Jungle Gym’ of poles, she spends every day of her life alone. For the people who come to stare, her response to this heartlessly barren confinement, when she can take no more and has no hope of privacy or escape, she flings her own dung at the people watching her degradation,” said Cooke.

“From what we have been told, Opal did have a mate and a baby boy which died of Tuberculosis. She has known the companionship of her own kind. She has loved and nurtured a baby. Now her empty eyes see only humans who stare, laugh and point fingers at her.”

Subsequently, a number of online petitions are gaining momentum in a quest to have Opal released. One of the online petitions, Care2 petitions, reached the 5000 mark in terms of support on Tuesday afternoon.

A number of attempts made by ANA to reach Boswell for comment were unsuccessful.

ANA

File photo: Gallo Images