L’Écocirque: 100% Human Circus – Interview with André-Joseph Bouglione, Part 3 of 3

It is our great pleasure to have André-Joseph Bouglione with us today as he continues to share his story and path to change. “When we review the surveys, we realize that nowadays nearly 70%, or even more, of the population condemn the exploitation of animals in circuses. The fact that I am doing it today is proof that my ancestors would have acted the same way. Maybe not for the same reasons – however, we are perhaps predisposed to that – to adapt! To adapt, to adapt to the present times, to the public, to the aspirations of society.” André-Joseph Bouglione now talks about his book “Against Animal Exploitation.” “In this book, I mainly try to explain my vision of the circus of the future. For me, the ideal would be for all circuses to give up exhibiting animals before the law forces them into it. Because that would be a bit humiliating, I think! It would be a sanction for our history, our heritage, our ancestors, to force the government to sanction us through the law, while this is our heritage. Out of respect for that heritage, out of respect for our elders, I think everybody should stop and start being reasonable and stop exhibiting animals. From that point on, of course, they wouldn’t need to ban it; it wouldn’t be necessary. There would only be the need to solve the problem of where to place the animals, and we would journey forward. It would be much less confrontational. I think the public would be much more grateful, because 70% of the population requests it.” André-Joseph Bouglione speaks about the “L’Écocirque 100% Human” project. “It will be a circus dedicated to the public. We want to put the audience back at the core of everything, at the center of our project. Whatever we do is for them, really.” “We are working as a circus without animals, but we’re doing it for the animals. From the moment we made that statement; we can no longer produce costumes with feathers, with leather! Beyond all that, we’re going to try to raise the public’s awareness in a very soft way, without making people feel guilty, without condemning or judging, but showing that we can do things differently. Because we have an audience comprised of children, especially school children.”