“There are clear signs of a violation of the Animal Welfare Act,” senior public prosecutor Birgit Hess told Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper. “The animals were confiscated and are now to be examined.”
That didn’t happen because the public prosecutor’s office speeded up the transfer, bypassing a legal requirement to allow the circus a hearing.
The circus complained and the animal welfare officer involved, Maya S (surnames are not made public in German court cases), spent the next seven years defending herself from charges of perverting the course of justice. She was behind an “emergency sale” to Natuurhulpcentrum Wildlife Rescue Centre (NWRC) in Belgium, said to be €100 (£87) per animal. The transaction could not be reversed as it was considered legal at the time, despite obvious errors during the process.
All PETA’s accusations were thrown out of court. “The conditions for confiscation were not met,” the court in Kiel eventually found in August 2014. “The seizure was not permissible.”
Witnesses – all vets – testified that the cats behaved normally, formed a ‘homogeneous group’ and lived in well-kept, spacious areas at the circus. Prosecutors dropped all proceedings against the circus and lawyers told the owners to expect compensation.
By the time Maya S was acquitted in 2021, only €30,000 (£25,700) had been awarded and, since she appeared to be off the hook, it was unlikely the owners would get the rest of the €408,000 in lost revenue.
“It all hurts to this day. I’m still plagued by nightmares,” Liane Köllner-Wisheit, head of the family that owned Circus Las Vegas, told the media after the acquittal. “So far we haven’t seen any money,” she replied, when asked about compensation for the big cats.
