I have often wondered what all the Australian circus's did with their Lions, Tigers, and other big cats, elephants and monkeys etc, when they decided to finish with "wild animal" acts. I know an elephant from Bullens has ended up at TWPZ, and the Australia Zoo eles were from a circus, but what happened to everything else? I remember Circus Royal used to have a Tiger and 3 leopards, incl a black one as well as monkeys, Circus Sonelli (spelling?) had at least 6 lions, Silvers Circus had lions (3 generations of girls all bred with the same male!) and Macaques (some of which went to the Alpaca Farm and zoo near Seymore (now closed) Perry Bros Circus used to have 3 trailers full of lions, and the last of their 4 or 5 elephants finally died only a year or so back (she was supposedly the last elephant left in an Australian circus) - did they actually put animals down, or did some go to zoos, or where they exported? Lions in particular, there would have been dozens in circus's once. I think there are only 2 Circus's still with Lions and Macaques touring Australia? Circus Stardust and Lennon Bros Circus.... I'm not wanting to start another debated on whether they should or shouldnt have these animals, I'm just interested to know where they all went.
I thought I should dig up this thread by saying that Australia currently only has two circuses with exotics: Stardust and Lennon Bros. An article by ABC earlier this month interested me as Lennon Bros circus set up in Lismore, a town which has banned circuses on council-owned land (the circus has found a way around this by being staged at Lismore Showground, which is privately owned): Lennon Bros sets up big top in Lismore, seven years after city bans animal circuses - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Lions, monkeys retire from Australia’s Stardust Circus due to insurance problems (news.com.au) The last 6 lions and 4 monkeys are set to retire to a NSW zoo - i wonder which "zoo" would take them on - my guess is the Banana Cabana for the monkeys and Zambi Wildlife retreat for the lions...
Three lions find ‘resort-style’ retirement in western Sydney - Hellocare an article from 2019 that confirms the 6 lions form Stardust are also destined for Zambi. The article includes some nice photos of the exhibits at Zambi