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Shrine Circus coming to town, not everyone is happy about it

The Shrine Circus will be in Spokane Valley this weekend and it has attracted a Facebook group of people pledging to protest it.

SPOKANE, Wash.—The circus is in town but not everyone is excited about it.

The Shrine Circus will be in Spokane Valley this weekend and it has attracted a Facebook group of people pledging to protest it.

The protest organizer, Lesley Herrin, said this was not the first time the group protested the circus.

Herrin said the protesters were against the Shrine Circus’s use of animals for entertainment.

The Shrine Circus does not own the animals itself, other companies supply the animal entertainers.

The animal advocacy group PETA alleges that these circus and entertainment operations are neglectful and abusive to their animals.

Herrin said the animal issue resonated with her for her entire life.

“Well like everybody else I went to the circus as a kid. And kids are very sensitive and intuitive and I saw with my own eyes. They use the bullhook, they jab the elephants, I could see they were kept in cages. That is a dismal, sad life, and just plain cruel and we’re just asking that the circus, the Shrine circus just uses performers that are just human, and animal free circuses,” said Herrin.

One of the more controversial aspects of the circus is the use of a bullhook by elephant handlers. It is a long stick with a metal hook at the end which is jabbed into an elephant’s skin as a training tool.

In 2016 the city of Spokane actually passed an ordinance banning the use of bullhooks, but the city of Spokane Valley does not.

Gary Van Dyke, who run the circus said the animals are treated well.

Van Dyke said they get daily baths, are well fed, and live in heated tents.

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