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Italian circus says escaped lion ‘posed no risk’

The lion that escaped from a circus near Rome posed no threat to the public, his handler insisted, as campaigners called for Italy to ban wild animals in entertainment.

Italian circus says escaped lion 'posed no risk'
Kimba the lion is seen behind fences in Ladispoli on November 12, 2023 after he escaped. (Photo by Sonia LOGRE / AFP)

Residents of the seaside town of Ladispoli were told to stay indoors for more than five hours on Saturday evening while police, vets and circus staff tracked the lion, finally sedating and then capturing him.

Extraordinary videos published by Italian media, apparently taken by locals, showed the fully-grown lion with a shaggy mane walking through dark and deserted residential streets, padding past parked cars.

But Rony Vassallo, who is responsible for the animals in the Rony Roller Circus, said that while the thought of confronting a lion would make most people fearful, eight-year-old Kimba posed little danger.

“He met with people in an environment he wasn’t used to… and nothing happened, he didn’t even for a second have the instinct to attack a person,” he told AFP at the circus site.

He said his fear had been “that someone could have harm the animal, out of fear, or excess enthusiasm”.

Nearby, not far from the red and white striped main tent where preparations were under way for the afternoon show, the newly captured lion paced inside his cage, occasionally roaring.

Kimba the lion in his cage at the Rony Roller Circus outside Rome. (Photo by Sonia LOGRE / AFP)

Vassallo said Kimba was only lightly sedated and woke up almost immediately, while examinations by vets had concluded he bore no ill-effects from his excursion.
But the handler, whose family runs the travelling circus, said they were all “very shaken and very tense” after the escape, which he believed was not an accident.

Vassallo said he personally checked on the cage an hour before the lion escaped, and “everything was in order”.

He declined to comment on reports of sabotage, including that the lock was forced, saying an investigation was underway.

But he said it had never happened before and “it’s very strange”. He showed how the door to the metal cage opens inwards, secured with a sliding bolt and a lightweight chain with a small padlock.

Kimba was born and raised in captivity, alongside his two brothers – Zeus and Ivan – and sister Maya.

They are among nine big cats at the circus, including tigers, while acts also involve elephants, camels, horses and even bison.

The circus has drawn the ire of animal rights campaigners, who say keeping such wild creatures is cruel.

More than 20 European countries have banned or heavily restricted the use of animals in circuses – but Italy is not yet among them.

A law has been drafted but was this year delayed to 2024, according to the LAV campaign group, which estimates that just under 2,000 animals are held in circuses across Italy.

What happened in Ladispoli “highlights the dangers of circuses with animals from the point of view of public security”, said animal rights group OIPA.

But it also highlighted “the discomfort of poor creatures forced into captivity for entertainment”, it said.

Ladispoli mayor Alessandro Grando, who had warned residents to stay at home on Saturday, has also called for a change in the law.

“I hope that this episode can stir some consciences, and that we can finally put an end to the exploitation of animals in circuses,” he said.

But Vassallo said critics “don’t know the reality of the facts, how animals are treated in circuses, of the checks that are carried out”.

In the surrounding neighbourhood, residents who spoke to AFP expressed support for the circus — and seemed more concerned about the lion than public safety.

“I was a little bit scared but afterwards, from the images from the videos, you could see that he was so good,” said Barbara Rosolino, 47.

“He wanted to go home anyway, you could see he was scared out of his mind.”

Member comments

  1. Of course, that is what they would say. I feel bad for the lion being trapped in that nonsense. Good for the lion escaping.

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ROME

Reader question: How common is air conditioning in Rome apartments?

With summer at the Eternal City's doors and temperatures on the rise, one reader asks: how easy is it to find an apartment in Rome with air conditioning?

Reader question: How common is air conditioning in Rome apartments?

Question: ‘I’m thinking of moving to Rome next year. With the effects of climate change and summers getting hotter, are air conditioners becoming more common in homes? If so, how does that work with the peculiar Italian system of consumption of electricity?”

Last summer was a scorcher in Italy, and Rome last July registered its hottest temperature since records began, at 41.8 degrees Celsius.

Yet despite warnings from Italian health authorities to drink water and stay inside, one object was missing from most homes in the capital: an air-conditioning unit.

READ MORE: Seven tips for surviving (and enjoying) Rome in summer

Air conditioning is far from guaranteed in apartments in Italy in general: partly because of the amount of energy they use, but there’s a long-standing fear of cold air (colpo d’aria) and a belief that if you stand near cold currents, you will be ill.

While this may be true for some people, soaring temperatures suggest this fear will increasingly be put to rest – and the most recent data suggests that it somewhat has.

A growing number of homeowners are looking at installing air-conditioning units in Lazio, the region where Rome sits, with a six percent rise in enquiries from 2021 to 2022.

This increase was attributed to the launch of Italy’s bonus condizionatori, a state incentive launched in 2022 for the purchase of more efficient AC units, as well as to rising temperatures.

The trend seems to be nationwide, with certain types of air conditioning units seeing a 27.9 percent increase in the first half of last year, according to association Assoclima.

READ ALSO: What are the rules for installing air conditioning in your Italian home?

However, this doesn’t mean it’s getting much easier to find an apartment with air conditioning: in Rome, their absence is still all too apparent

If you go into most restaurants, particularly outside the city centre, you will not find it. If you are going on holiday, a lot of places advertise having AC when perhaps it should be a given.

And if you’re renting or buying a property, chances are you’ll be advised to buy a fan and close the shutters on the windows during midday.

Finding an apartment with air conditioning in Rome is possible, but still a rarity. Real-estate search portal Idealista recently surveyed the percentage of properties up for rent or sale in each city which had air-conditioning. Rome did not even make the top 20.

What’s more, it’s hard to know what will happen when air conditioning becomes more common in Rome. There were blackouts last summer in the Rome quarters of Torpignattara, Alessandrino, and Marconi after people turned up their air conditioners in an attempt to keep cool.

Rome isn’t the only part of Italy where this happens: widespread blackouts in Milan in 2022 were blamed on soaring air conditioner use amid extreme heat.

There’s also the fact that standard household power capacity in Italy is set at 3.3 KW (3,300 Watts), which many find is too low to run more than one power-hungry appliance at a time. This limit can be increased by your electricity provider, for a fee, but the expense is often prohibitive.

For all these reasons, air conditioning is still not common in Rome, but it is on the rise. If it’s a must-have for you it’s always necessary to double-check before leasing anywhere.

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