Investigating the Universoul Circus
IPPL investigators went undercover this summer to expose the apparent violation of a US Fish and Wildlife Service permit granted to Johnny Lam to permit the import from Mexico of three chimpanzees (named Johnny, Coco and Pepe) to tour the United States with the UniverSoul Circus.
As first reported in the April 2000 issue of IPPL News, the terms of the permit were disturbing. Now IPPL has obtained video footage of a performance that shows Lam and the circus to be in apparent non-compliance with the terms of the permit, which was issued based on Lam's claim that his act contributed to conservation by its educational program.
IPPL followed UniverSoul this summer, from Memphis to Detroit. What our video cameras captured on tape is troubling.
Lam was allowed to cross international borders with the three young chimpanzees (the oldest is five) by stating in writing to the US Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Management Authority that he would conduct public "education" by asking selected members of the audience questions like:
Chimpanzees eat:
a) mostly vegetation, insects and occasionally meat,
b) only vegetation,
c) only insects, or
d) Burger King Double Whopper combo meals.
Another question involved asking if a chimpanzee's arm was as long as, among other things, "a Michael Jordan half court jump shot."
In Detroit, our undercover team videotaped the entire Lam performance. The video content strongly suggests that the circus is violating the terms of its permit because there was no educational component whatsoever to the program.
As the IPPL video makes clear, Lam never conducts anything remotely resembling "education" and in fact he never once speaks during the performance, which actually presents one inaccurate stereotype after another of chimpanzees dressed in human clothing.
IPPL has petitioned the USFWS for an appointment to review the videotape in their offices. We have also requested an investigation of matters concerning Lam, who owns 15 chimpanzees, and the circus, and what appears to be flagrant violation of the clause of the permit that requires an educational program to be in place.
We have also asked that Anna Barry, who was assigned to the permit, be educated about primates and not assigned to other applications involving performing animals, as this case and others suggest that she has a strong pro-entertainment bias.
Instead of providing any type of "conservation education," Lam has been prodding the chimpanzees to ride scooters and perform comedy skits before screaming crowds from New York to Los Angeles.
Instead of an educational discussion, the IPPL video shows Lam directing the chimpanzees with a baton through quick costume changes, ethnic dances, stilt walking and performing a long, laborious and unnaturally monotonous trapeze act, while the music blares and the crowd screams and stomps their feet.
The grand finale has all three chimpanzees spinning like live lottery wheels, gripping the four corners of a metal "X" and rapidly rotating head-over-foot.
One IPPL member, a public school teacher, who witnessed the show in Detroit in September, called it "one of the most disturbing things I have seen as an activist. It quite literally brought tears to my eyes."
In Memphis, our cameras caught up with the Lam chimpanzees who were apparently locked in their trailer for more than a week. Our investigators found that UniverSoul was denied a local permit to allow the chimpanzees to perform. This was in accordance with Tennessee's Captive Wildlife Law.
IPPL was told by Steve Nifong, Assistant Chief of Law Enforcement, that the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency considers "chimpanzees a Class 1 animal, which is inherently dangerous, and they are not allowed to come into close contact with humans."
On an interesting side-note, Tennessee's Nifong also made the point that elephants are not considered "inherently dangerous" enough under the current interpretation of the law.
Therefore, the three young Asian elephants touring with UniverSoul were pushed through their act two or three times each day while the circus stopped in Memphis. The pachyderms were allowed to go on, Nifong said, "even though elephants go berserk sometimes."
Indeed, the New York Times reported on April 27, 2000, that the three elephants traveling with UniverSoul are Marie, Bunny and Jan.
In 1997, while touring with another circus, Jan bit a groom on the head and back, causing injuries that resulted in hospitalization.
While this 1991 Tennessee law appears to take a pro-chimpanzee stance, its enforcement in just this one state meant the chimpanzees stayed locked away in their windowless trailer.
IPPL photographed the trailer in Memphis. Two staff members confirmed that the animals were on-site in the trailer, although other employees had claimed that the animals were not on site, but were back in Mexico.
Life in the trailer is excruciating, not only for the reason that the living quarters have remained substandard.
In both April and June, 2000, US Department of Agriculture citations were issued saying that the chimpanzees were not being provided adequate veterinary care or enrichment, and that their cages at the time had a fraction of the floor space required by the Animal Welfare Act.
Contacted recently in her office by IPPL, Anna Barry admitted to approving the USFWS permit, based on her approval of questions like those including the Burger King and Jordan references. She said that she had no idea that Lam and UniverSoul were not meeting the terms.
Barry's only comment about her judgment in issuing the Lam/UniverSoul permit was:
What I can say is that it met the requirements of what needed to be happening for the issue of a permit.
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| Performing chimps - photos from IPPL video |
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Write to the USFWS requesting an investigation of why the permit to import the Lam chimpanzees was issued and why there has apparently been no follow-up in regard to whether the alleged educational program is being conducted. Please request that no similar permits be granted in the future, and express your personal feelings about the use of chimpanzees in circuses. Request that Anna Barry of the Office of Management Authority be asked to explain why she issued Lam a permit when the educational material was so clearly nonsensical - and was not even used during the circus's performance in Detroit.
Ms. Jamie Rappaport Clark, Director
USFWS, Main Interior Building
1849 C Street, Room 3012
Washington, DC 20240-0002
Fax: 202-208-6965, phone: 202-208-4717
Our colleagues at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA, see www.circuses.com) have asked people to boycott UniverSoul sponsors, including Burger King, General Mills and Ford Motor Company, which displays new vehicles at UniverSoul appearances. PETA currently has a letter-writing campaign targeting General Mills CEO Stephen Sanger for the conglomerate's sponsorship of this circus and Circus Mundial. At Universoul, General Mills gives a box of Honey Nut Cheerios and other food samples and coupons to each audience member. The addresses of company officials are:
Stephen W. Sanger
Chair and CEO, General Mills
201 General Mills Blvd.
PO Box 1113
Minneapolis, MN 55440-1113
E-mail: pat.rozman@genmills.com
Jacques A. Nasser
President, Ford Motor Company
300 Renaissance Center
P.O Box 437706
Detroit, Michigan 48243
Burger King Corporation
17777 Old Cutler Road
Miami, Florida 33157
