Category Archives: Circus

Ringling Bros circus returns after five years – without animals

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Famous circus ended 146-year-run in January 2017 after customer sales declined in wake of criticism over animal acts

“The Greatest Show on Earth” is making a comeback – without animal acts – five years after shutting down its three-ring circus, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey announced on Wednesday.

The interactive live show will launch in September next year, celebrating performers from around the world “displaying incredible feats that push the limits of human potential”, the Florida-based company said in a news release.

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‘It helped me get away from crime’: Cape Town’s College of Magic – a photo essay

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Photographer Tommy Trenchard documents students whose stories of transformation at the Hogwarts of South Africa are more than just fairytales

To fans of JK Rowling’s books, the story may sound somewhat familiar: a young boy living in difficult circumstances is enrolled in a mysterious school far from home, where his life is changed for ever by the transformative power of magic.

Anele Dyasi’s story is no fairytale, though, and the school in question is not Hogwarts, but the College of Magic in Cape Town, a unique institution that has been training some of the continent’s most skilled illusionists since the 1980s.

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Self-proclaimed ‘Big Bird Bandits’ return $160,000 costume to Adelaide circus

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Two men seen leaving the stolen Sesame Street costume with apology note were unable to be located by police dog squad

A $160,000 Big Bird costume has been returned after being stolen from a circus in Adelaide by the self-proclaimed “Big Bird Bandits”.

The 213cm-tall, bright yellow costume reportedly made of ostrich feathers, was found dumped near the south-western end of the circus, with a note saying “no harm” had come to “Mr Bird”.

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Tigers kill Italian tamer as parliament mulls ban on circus animals

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All eight of the circus’s tigers were impounded by police after tamer Ettore Weber was mauled to death

Four tigers have mauled to death their tamer in southern Italy, fuelling calls for a ban on the use of animals in circuses as parliament debates the issue.

Police said the 61-year-old tamer, Ettore Weber, was attacked by the tigers on Thursday during a training session in Triggiano, a small town in the Puglia region.

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