Watch the video and sign the petition!Defra inexcusably continues to allow wild animals to suffer in UK circuses by failing to introduce a ban on their use. This failure to act is made more appalling by the fact that 94 per cent of respondents to the last government's consultation favoured an outright ban, the British Veterinary Association has made it clear that "the welfare needs of non-domesticated, wild animals cannot be met within the environment of a travelling circus" and Parliament went as far as to order the government to introduce a ban last June.
Following the embarrassing defeat in Parliament, the government claimed that there were legal impediments to a ban and cited an impending challenge to Austria's own ban by Circus Krone. In December, however, the Austrian Constitutional Court defended the legality of the ban and threw out the application to have it overturned.
Wild animals in circuses often suffer from poor care, chronic health problems, abusive treatment, psychological disorders and aberrant behaviour, and many die prematurely. By virtue of the very nature of circuses – which necessitates confining animals to cages or boxcars, forcing animals to do tricks which are totally unnatural to them and denying them the opportunity to carry out their natural behaviours – animal welfare can never be ensured in a circus environment.
Video footage released last year by Animal Defenders International is yet more evidence of the routine and sickening abuse of wild animals in circuses.
Numerous local authorities in the UK have already instituted a ban on the use of public grounds for animal circuses, and many other countries – such as Austria, Finland, India, Bolivia, Singapore and Sweden – have implemented bans or prohibitions on wild animal acts.
It's time that the government stopped hiding behind fictional obstacles and delivered on its promise to "listen to the views of the House of Commons" by using its powers under section 12 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to introduce an immediate ban on the use of all wild animals in UK circuses.
