Welcome to the the Bobby Roberts Super Circus ......... Clearly Bobby Roberts is unfit to own, let alone 'train' animals. Roberts proprietor of the sadly misnamed 'Bobby Roberts Super Circus' should have his animal licence immediately revoked, torn up and this sorry excuse for a run down beaten up circus and animal torture freak show closed down.
Local authorities who rent out space, have the power to prevent the circus from ever coming to any town. His animal rental contracts with Film and TV companies should also be curtailed and all his back contracts examined and film crews questioned as to how the animals on set were transported and cared for. The resident Vet on such films should also be questioned.
There is no excuse in the 21st Century for this disfunctional throwback of a tacky display, Roberts it is reported, only paid the thugs around £8,000 a year for them to systematically and violently abuse an intelligent, gentle 58 year old elephant.
As Roberts says she has been in his charge for 55 years although he has only been training animals for 50 years, he claims in his statement. What he really means is that the creature has been shackled to a stake for 55 years, as he lived high on the hog on the back of unspeakable cruelty, in his luxury trailer but just too busy to walk a few yards and spend time with 58 year old Anne the Elephant, just too conditioned by cruelty, to notice any change in her condition, the deep empty look in her eyes, all thoughts of an easier life beaten out of her over the yearsbehind closed doors and who is to say it hasn't been going on for many years? Roberts clearly too grand and didn't bother to mix, train or communicate with the mindless thugs he interviewed, risk assessed and entrusted to care for her in her twilight years..
What would it have cost to put his own video monitor in to keep an electronic recorded eye on the animals and his employees 'when he was away?' If Roberts is the caring animal trainer he makes out to be, why was the animal not retired years ago? Simply because the poor old girl was still making him money!
The statement below issued by the Roberts family has clearly been written by a lawyer trying to offload blame, certainly it is not the work of Mr Roberts. I'm also not too certain if Roberts actually saw the images I witnessed repeatedly on televsion and on the internet.
The statement strangely omits to mention the kicking with steel toed boots (?) and the repeated hitting with sticks and if the film ie video was taped over several weeks as Roberts suggests then why was the poor beast not moved at any time and exercised and through that period no vet on site for routine medical checks? Bobby roberts admits the camera was in place for three weeks, so why as he must know his premises inch by inch didn't spot the new addition. Perhaps Mr Roberts didn't appear for the whole three weeks? The owners of the camera an outfit called Animal Defenders might just have more tape to answer this very question. For what it is worth here is the statement put out by Mr Roberts and it seems his family...so if Mr roberts was away where was the family?
A Statement"The Bobby Roberts family have viewed the footage taken by Animal Defenders at their premises and share the outrage at what appears to have taken place in their absence. The camera was in place for nearly three weeks and the incidents recorded appear to be isolated and at times when Bobby Roberts was away for short periods.
The film shows an employee hitting our elephant Anne with the back of a pitchfork in order to make her move to one side while her stabling was being cleaned out. This is not acceptable nor is it necessary.
Anne has been with us for 55 years, not just as a performing animal but as a family pet. She has been trained through kindness and reward to willingly obey gentle, spoken commands. She is now an elderly lady and the incidents appear to have been driven by a lack of patience in our employee. We believe the film was taken on the occasional days that Bobby Roberts was absent from our farm and the employee was left on his own. The actions of the employee, had they been known, would not have been tolerated and had they taken place in Bobby Roberts' presence they would have led to an instant dismissal.
Bobby Roberts has had an unblemished career as a respected animal trainer for over fifty years. The film does not suggest that he was involved in any of theses incidents or that they took place in his presence. He is deeply saddened that Anne, for whom he has deep affection, and who clearly loves Bobby, should have, in any way suffered.
Bobby was completely unaware of what was happening and had the employee not disappeared he would have been sacked immediately. Whilst we are grateful to Animal Defenders for bringing to our attention the completely unacceptable behaviour of our employee, we are strongly critical of the fact that it has taken them several weeks to report the matter and did not, in the interests of animal welfare, take immediate steps to inform us of the problem. The Bobby Roberts Family.
