The participants of the Ryazan branch of the Alliance for Animals Tatiana Vazhnik and Sergey Safroniy held pickets against the use of animals in circuses on September 8. They stood with posters near the Rybnoe administration and near the Moscow tent circus, which has been staying in the city since early September. Employees of the circus tried to drive the animal rights activists back from their tent. Picketers held a live broadcast in the community of the Alliance for Animals on vk.com.
For half an hour from 13:30, Sergey Safroniy, the leader of the group of assistance to street animals, stood in front of the city hall with a poster, which depicted a bear in a cage, with the inscription: "Why?" and Andrey Dementyev's quatrain pitying animals in circuses and asking people to be kinder.
After 14:00, Tatiana Vazhnik held the picket near the circus. First, the employee of the tent tried to drive her back, then a man came out of the tent. They demanded to see a permit for the rally, and received an explanation from Safroniy: no permissions are needed for a one-person picket. An employee of the circus called the police, animal rights activists gave explanations.
— We told that the circus had been issued an order to leave the territory of the Rybnoye district two days ago, that many documents of the circus performers were missing, — Safroniy explained to the correspondent of "7x7". — At the same time we asked why no supervisory authority had followed the execution of the order so far, but the policeman referred to being busy.
Tatiana Vazhnik told that some residents of Rybnoe had not approved the action against animal abuse. Passers-by pointed out that "the circus bear is a personal property, so they can do whatever they want" and that "people need entertainment as well."
According to animal rights activists, the circus should leave in the evening on September 8, as the artists have performed the whole programme.
On August 30, residents of the Ryazan village of Polyany drew the attention of the regional Alliance for Animals to a bear that was tied to a pole — it served as a «barker» at the Moscow tent circus. Soon the circus moved to the district center of the Rybnoe district, where the residents saw the bear, being taken for a walk around the city on a chain, again. The staff of the tent circus refused to talk with animal rights activists who helped the city administration of Rybnoe detect violations in the work of the circus employees on September 5: they were working without registration, the bear had no veterinary documents. In addition, the circus reported that they do not have any animals. The Rybnoe administration has issued an order compelling the management of the circus to leave the town until the evening of September 6, but the circus is still working.
