Circus protesters target Green Cove officials

Animal rights activists have sent hundreds of emails to Green Cove Springs officials protesting a circus the activists claim is coming to the city.

Vice Mayor Connie Butler said during the city council’s Oct. 18 meeting that she had received so many of the messages she can’t count them, and City Clerk Erin West said she had received over 500 of the emails.

City Manager Steve Kennedy reported that he had received “a bunch” of the messages, adding that he didn’t know a circus was coming to town until he received the online communications.

“It’s something that Clay County allows them to do at the fairgrounds,” Kennedy said of the circus. “We have nothing to do with it.”

The manager added that because the event is billed as taking place in Green Cove Springs, email senders erroneously assume the city is a participant in the event.

The only circus recently scheduled at the fairgrounds was the Loomis Circus which was expected to run for six performances at the facility from Oct. 1 through Oct. 3. Hurricane Ian delayed the shows for one week.

“I’m not sure what poor judgment they made,” Kennedy said or the email writers, “but it was interesting to start getting those messages.”

Kennedy added that the city’s IT department installed a filter to screen out emails that contained subject lines with specific keywords, but some of the emails still got through. 

West said the messages originated from different senders, but all contained the same message.

One sender from Minneapolis, Minnesota wrote to West on Oct. 20: “We heard you, or your town, are involved in an event that is bringing a circus to perform with big cats, but you should know that wildcats in performing acts are not trained through positive reinforcement, but rather through beatings, shocking, and deprivation of food and a natural existence.”

The message adds that circus acts are barbaric relics of the past and requests that the city cancels the performances.

“We would like you to cancel this show, or your participation in the fair, or at the very least announce that you will no longer have any association with such acts if they bring in wild cats for display,” the emailer wrote.

The writer concludes that more emails will be coming if the city does not comply.

“Please let me know that we can announce to our 3.6 million followers on Facebook and our millions on other social channels that you have chosen to do the right thing for the animals,” the sender wrote. “If you choose otherwise, we will have no other choice than to let our supporters know that we tried to educate you and failed. We will ask them to reach out politely to convince you that the circus is no fun for animals and that people just won’t tolerate such abuse anymore.”

When asked if he had received any of the messages, Mayor Matt Johnson replied: “No, and let’s keep it that way.”