Britain to Ban Some Wild Circus Animals
LONDON - The British government said Wednesday it intends to ban the use of some wild animals in traveling circuses.
New provisions to the Animal Welfare Bill would outlaw the use of yet-to-be named species "whose welfare needs cannot be satisfactorily met" in a traveling circus. Animals in permanent circus venues, zoo performances and in the "audio visual" industry would be exempt, Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw said in a written statement to the House of Commons.
Animal rights groups hailed the proposal as a positive step and urged lawmakers to quickly pass the bill so it could be implemented by the fall.
"This is wonderful news and the culmination of more than 10 years of hard work for us," said Jan Creamer, the chief executive of the animal welfare organization Animal Defenders International.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said many wild animal species, including elephants, lions, tigers, bears, camels and zebras, at three British traveling circuses are enduring "welfare problems."
They urged the government to extend the proposed ban to all wild circus animals, but believed that only bears, elephants and big cats would be shoe-ins as species covered under the ban. The government said the process for selection which animals are covered is open to discussion.
The deadly strain of bird flu was found in a cat on the same island last month, the first time the virus has been identified in an animal other than a bird in central Europe. Infected cats have since been found in Austria.
"The presence of an H5N1 infection in a second mammalian species is not surprising," Till Backhaus, the regional minister for agriculture, said in a statement. "Cats and martens have a comparable prey spectrum."
Cats are believed to have caught the virus by eating infected birds.
