Janice Lennon , circus director in Australia . Jan grew up in suburban Sydney and was 15 when she met her first husband Victor West. She says she was "swept up into the circus world" and started learning trapeze. They started the West Family Circus in 1969 and performed at shopping centers and schools. Victor West died 25 years ago when his youngest children, the twins Yelena and Gene were babies. Jan says she had known Lindsay for years from the circus business, and his wife had died too. The two of them ended up together "very naturally" and it all felt right. Janice Lennon and husband Lindsay Lennon own both of Australia’s animal circuses: Lennon Bros and Stardust. 2007: Arna crushed her handler Ray Williams, 57, to death at Yamba on the state’s north coast on December 27, 2007. Stardust Circus, the last remaining exotic animal circus in Australia, made the “heartbreaking” decision to retire both her and their other elephant Gigi to Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo the next day. Speaking to an inquiry into the exhibition of exotic animals in circuses and the exhibition of cetaceans (marine animals) in NSW, owner Janice Lennon said she regretted sending the elephant away. “Had we known the outcome, we would never have done that,” she said.
