Paris’s Moulin Rouge cabaret draws curtain on snake act

The storied Moulin Rouge cabaret in Paris said that it had dropped a long-running snake act under pressure from animal rights groups.

Published: 10 May 2023 08:23 CEST

Paris's Moulin Rouge cabaret draws curtain on snake act

The Moulin Rouge in Paris has removed a snake act from its cabaret. (Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP)

Management at the venue had promised in March to end the sequence, in which non-aquatic snakes were immersed in a transparent tank with a woman for an acrobatic performance.

The cabaret “announces the permanent end of the snakes number as of today, Tuesday, May 9th, ahead of its [earlier] commitment,” it said, having said previously it would end all performances involving live animals in 2024.

The cabaret, founded in 1889, has bowed to pressure from Paris officials and campaigners who pointed out the cruelty of submerging terrestrial snakes in water.

Animal rights advocates said they had seen the snakes trying to keep their heads above water during the segment.

The two species used in the act, Southeast Asian reticulated and Indian pythons, are protected and live on land, officials from the Paris mayor’s office had informed the venue.

The Moulin Rouge’s decision followed a heated campaign with petitions and demonstrations.

“It’s a historic move” that “goes in the right direction for ending animal captivity in France”, said Amandine Sanvisens of the Paris Animaux Zoopolis (PAZ) advocacy group, which had been planning a new protest in front of the institution.

Last year the cabaret told Le Parisien newspaper: “We have never mistreated and will never mistreat animals.”

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The woman was bitten “on the neck, the calf and the back” at the Thoiry zoo around 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of the French capital, a source close to the case told AFP.

Maryvonne Caillibotte, chief prosecutor in Versailles, had said the woman’s life was in danger, but later Sunday a source told AFP her injuries were no longer life-threatening.

The woman, went out early Sunday morning for a jog after spending the night with her family in the safari-style lodge at the zoo, according to initial findings of the investigation.

CEO of Wow Safari Thiory, Christelle Bercheny, told AFP that the woman had “crossed the American reserve on foot”, a place normally “only accessible by car”.

Bercheny said that there were signs reminding people of the “rules of survival” to be followed in the park.

“The behaviour of the animals in the reserves is that of animals in freedom or semi-liberty,” she added, referring to their reaction to the intrusion of a human.

Lodges in the wolf zone, advertised on its website at between 220 and 760 euros ($235-810) per night, promise “silence, rest and disconnection”, according to the zoo’s adverts.

They offer “a one-of-a-kind, very intimate experience with the arctic wolves you’ll be able to see from the living room”.

Investigation underway

The woman “ended up in the safari zone, which is supposed to be restricted to cars. That’s where she was attacked by three wolves,” Caillibotte said.

It was not clear “whether she made a mistake or the trail wasn’t clearly marked”, she added.

First responders got to the scene “very quickly”, the wolves were “moved away, then returned to their area”, Caillibotte said.

The source familiar with the case said earlier the woman must have got through “security systems, a trench and an electric fence supposed to keep the animals in”.

Police are investigating the incident.

Thoiry zoo was founded in 1968 by Paul de la Panouse, owner of a local chateau that has been in his family since the 16th century.

He recalled to the regional newspaper L’Independant in April how he initially stocked the zoo with a ship loaded with 120 animals brought from Kenya.

De la Panouse sold the zoo to a group of investors in 2018.