Circus Uses Holograms Instead Of Real Life Animals

The use of animals in circuses is an outdated tradition which is hard to believe still exists.

But that's not for the contribution of one German circus, which has replaced all use of animals with holographics.

Circus Roncalli in Germany has rid their shows of wild animals entirely, replacing them with holograms to wow their audiences.

Optoma EMEA

Animals, including elephants, zebra and fish appearing in amazing colours and move around the area, acting as decoration to the other acts.

The media director of the circus, Markus Strobl, spoke to RP Online earlier this year about the circus' decision to make the switch, saying: "Most of the numbers in the show would already be done by the artists and clowns today anyway. The focus of the Circus Roncalli is on poetic and acrobatic numbers."

Youtube

Aside from the obvious animal rights reasons, Roncalli say the switch was a logistical one too as the circus likes to perform in city centres and at town halls, where there is difficulty housing animals.

The president of Animal Defenders International, Jan Creamer, told The Dodo this is "the future of circus".

PA

She explained: "Thankfully the public is voting with their feet, and increasingly visiting shows where the performers get to choose instead of being forced to perform.

"This is the future of circus - a performance everyone can enjoy and for which intelligent, sentient beings are not used and depicted as objects of entertainment."

PA

This comes not long after the total ban of using wild animals in circuses across the England. On 1st May, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: "Travelling circuses are no place for wild animals in the 21st century and I am pleased that this legislation will put an end to this practice for good.

"Today's announcement follows other measures we have taken to strengthen our position as a world leader on animal protection.

"This includes our ban on ivory sales to protect elephants, and delivering Finn's Law to strengthen the protection of service animals."

It sounds like change is coming - now can other circuses take note?

Topics: Life News, Life

Ciara Sheppard

Ciara is a freelance journalist working for Tyla. After graduating from the University of Sussex, Ciara worked as a writer at GLAMOUR Magazine and later as the Assistant Editor of Yahoo Style UK.

@ciarasheppard