ANIMAL welfare campaigners have written to Esso to protest about the display of a tiger in a small cage at a gas station in order to promote a circus.

And the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) also plans to write to the Ministry of Environment to express its view that animals should never again be brought to the island purely for entertainment purposes.

SPCA chairman and veterinarian Andrew Madeiros said the decisions to write the two letters had been made at a board meeting this week.

The news comes as the Tarzan Zerbini Circus, complete with performing elephants, dogs and white tiger, prepares for more shows at Southside today and tomorrow.

Mr. Madeiros added that at the same board meeting, representatives of Dolphin Quest had detailed its plans to create a new dolphin habitat in the sea near the Maritime Museum.

The SPCA chairman said his group had little dolphin expertise and needed to know more before they could issue a general opinion on Dolphin Quest. But he said they felt the new pen would give the company's existing dolphins a better quality of life.

Fuji, the circus' white tiger, was displayed at Esso's City of Hamilton TigerMarket on Saturday and Tuesday. Several concerned people called the SPCA. "It was certainly inappropriate to take an animal in a cage to a gas station and use it for strictly commercial purposes and we have written to Esso about that," said Mr. Madeiros.

"In our committee meeting, we were in agreement that the SPCA is not supportive of animal circuses for entertainment.

"While we have not had any reports of animal cruelty with the circus that's here now, we do not believe it's appropriate to bring circus animals into this environment.

"In a situation like this, there's no benefit to the animals and no educational aspect that I can see.

"Our inspector has been down to the circus and is satisfied that the care of the animals is adequate and the people seem to care about the animals. But there are transport and housing issues that go beyond what the animals are used to."

He added that the Society would not be requesting a complete ban on animal importation for entertainment from the Government.

"We were reluctant to say 'ban' because there may be a situation down the road where somebody needs to bring an animal for some reason - but we feel it's not appropriate to bring them in for classic entertainment reasons.

"So we shall be getting in contact with the ministry that issues permits to bring in animals, the Ministry of Environment. The letter has been drafted and as soon as it has been reviewed it will go into the mail, certainly by early next week."

Dolphin Quest applied to the Planning Department two weeks ago for permission to pen off 2.56 acres of ocean floor off the Maritime Museum for its eight dolphins.

As reported in this newspaper last week, a team of veterinarians and technicians carried out an assessment that showed the pen would have no detrimental effect on the marine environment or on humans, but would greatly benefit the dolphins.

After meeting Dolphin Quest officials this week, Mr. Madeiros backed that point of view, though he said the SPCA would be looking more closely at the issue of not only the pen, but of the animals being kept in captivity.

"The planned extension of the pen will be an improvement on the situation there now and will improve the dolphins' quality of life - and that is a good thing," said Mr. Madeiros.

"Our main concern is the condition of the animals and the new pen will improve that. In that sense, I don't think we would have a problem with it.

"We met with Dolphin Quest representatives and they talked to us about their plans and what stage they're at.

"However, we feel we are not experts in this matter and will probably looking at getting some more advice on this next year."

Mr. Madeiros also spoke about how Christmas was traditionally a difficult time for the SPCA.

"At this time of year, a lot of people are looking for animals for the wrong reasons, like to give one as a present to a child. We shut adoptions down this week until after Christmas," he said.

"Also a lot of animals get dumped at this time of year because people are under financial stress. And some people who are going away bring in animals because all the boarding facilities have been fully booked for the past six months.

"And there's a lot of partying and drinking going on and so people aren't maybe paying as much attention to their animals as they normally would."

See also letter on page 2