By Teagan Greer, Ella Strobo, and Shea Spencer
The Jordan World Circus came to the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center this past weekend on March 14 and 15 and featured a student from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) in one of its main acts. On both dates, the stands were lined with attendees while protestors stood outside of the venue holding signs and handing out pamphlets.
One of the protestors, Mikala Hazelton with Compassionate Works International, a nonprofit animal advocacy organization, has been protesting against Jordan World Circus events for five years. She showed up to this year’s tour with one member of the circus on her mind in particular.
“They have animals in their shows, one being Viola. She is 56 years old. She was stolen from the wild and she needs to be retired,” Hazelton said, referring to an elephant that previously escaped the circus’ show in Montana.
Another protester, Alicia Santurio, a travelling campaigner with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), was there for the same reason. “We are protesting Jordan World Circus because of their continued use of elderly elephant Viola. Despite her being inspected by an elephant expert and her showing signs of pain and arthritis, they continue to force her to perform,” she said.
Santurio hopes to convince Jordan World Circus to change their policies.
“We’re asking the circuses to use all willing human performers instead of animals,” she said.
Multiple U.S. states have already banned the use of certain animals in circus performances, but Nevada is not among them.
Ari Steeples is the Jordan World Circus’ 56-year-old ringmaster. Steeples has been the circus’ ringmaster since 1995, and said that he grew up in the circus since his father was a bear trainer. He learned to juggle, ride unicycles and perform many other acts. In 1989, he became a full-time ringmaster before joining the Jordan World Circus in 1995.
“It’s definitely changing. We’re using less animals all the time. The animals are kind of fading out a little bit, but pretty much it’s been the same since I have been involved in it and everything, you know? A lot of the same acts and stuff, and we’re still just trying to do it. Trying to keep it alive,” Steeples said about how the circus has evolved.
“Business is good and bad – I think the pandemic and all that really affected the business a lot more,” Steeples said. “But no, there’s some towns that we pack and we do great. Like you’re here in Reno, every year we do great in Reno. There’s some towns where the business is down, but it’s because the people are struggling, you know?”
In contrast to what the protesters claimed about Viola’s age, Steeples said that, although he is unsure of exactly how old the elephants are, he believes Viola and fellow circus elephant Isa are in their 40s. “Elephants have been a part of the circus for forever, so we bring them wherever the laws are allowing us to. There’s a lot of states now that we can’t bring the elephants to so they don’t join us for those towns, but they join us for the towns that we can… We’re not criminals, we just go by the laws,” he said.
Multiple UNR students attended the circus.
“One of the student ambassadors, they said she works for the circus – she made an announcement and I was like ‘oh, that sounds cool, I’ll go,’” said Jayden Beltran, one of the students the Nevada Sagebrush spoke to. Student ambassadors at UNR volunteer to recruit new students for the university and assist with public relations efforts.
The aforementioned ambassador is Kenzie Gittens, who performed in several of the circus’ acts. Gittens was front and center during the 13th act, in which she maneuvered herself around a ring floating high up in the air. In another act, titled “Spanish Web”, where performers weave their body up and out of a high hanging rope, Gittens said she had little time to spare.
“Climbing up there, we have like 15 seconds to scale 40 feet,” Gittens said. She performed multiple times a day while the Jordan World Circus was in Reno.
“It [the show] went really really well. It was our morning show so it was a bit calmer, but it was a great crowd. The kids loved all the stuff, so it was a great time,” Gittens said.
While balancing her life as a UNR student with her life as a circus performer can be difficult, Gittens pointed out one advantage of being involved in both worlds. “It’s a great experience, also a great way to pay off tuition so, go that!” she said.
