ADI condemns call for animal circuses to be permitted in Wycombe

Friday, 21 November 2008 12:00 AM

Animal Defenders International (ADI) is strongly urging Wycombe Borough Council to reject circus industry calls for performing animals in circuses to be allowed on council land.

Circuses using animals have been banned in the borough for the past 16 years. However, now a circus has pressed councilors to change the rules to allow them, claiming there is no scientific evidence to suggest that animals should not be used.

ADI strongly contests this claim, and has produced a wealth of film footage and photographs, taken by undercover officers in the UK and worldwide. Our findings reveal that animal welfare is inevitably compromised by the traveling and temporary nature of the circus, with animals often confined in small spaces, and some animals suffering physical and psychological abuse. In addition, scientific studies of the effects on animals in captivity and transport in a range of industries have provided evidence of suffering and compromised welfare. The circumstances that cause suffering in other industries are present in circuses.

After the Government missed an opportunity to ban animal circuses with the Animal Welfare Act 2006, a Circus Working Group was established by DEFRA to gather and evaluate evidence. However, this has been roundly criticized for discounting much of the evidence before it could even be considered. More than 180 cross-party MPs have signed a parliamentary petition calling for the Government to fulfil its commitment to ban wild animals in circuses and to set up a proper licensing system for domesticated animals. EDM 965 is the animal welfare parliamentary petition with the third highest number of signatures, putting it in the top one per cent.

Circus animals are not currently given protection under the Animal Welfare Act as circus regulations have not yet been written. Any council that acts to allow animal circuses is getting ahead of the law.

ADI Chief Executive, Jan Creamer, says "It is extraordinary that, while worldwide awareness of animal suffering in circuses has never been greater, and an increasing number of countries like Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia are seriously considering bans on animals in circuses, English councils would suddenly go backward in history, and allow what is considered unacceptable by 80 per cent of the British public. ADI strongly urges Wycombe councillors to stand up for animal welfare and reject circus industry calls to overturn protection for circus animals."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

For further information, contact ADI Public Relations Officer, Ally MacDonald
Tel: 020 7630 3344
Out of Hours Mobile: 07785 552548
Email: pr@ad-international.org
The DVD of the ADI campaign 'Stop Circus Suffering' is available.

The ADI report 'Animals in Travelling Circuses: The Science on Suffering' is available from the press office, or online here: http://www.ad-international.org/animals_in_entertainment/go.php?id=1414&ssi=10

Photographs of animals in circuses are available on request.

The regulatory and appeals committee of Wycombe Borough Council is due to discuss the issue on Monday 24th November.

Early Day Motion 965, tabled by Mark Pritchard MP (Con, Wrekin), states "That this House notes with concern that the Circus Working Group disregarded substantial amounts of evidence on the welfare of animals in circuses as a result of the methodology imposed by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; believes that the report of the Chair of the Circus Working Group fails to provide reliable information on this subject; and urges the Government to maintain its commitment to ban the use of wild species in travelling circuses and to restrict and limit the use of domesticated species under a strict, accountable and open licensing system."

The list of signatories to EDM 965 can be found here: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35158

ADI
With offices in London, San Francisco and Bogota, Animal Defenders International (ADI) campaigns to protect animals in entertainment, replacement of animals in experiments; worldwide traffic in endangered species; vegetarianism; factory farming; pollution and conservation. ADI also rescues animals in distress worldwide. Our evidence has led to campaigns and legislative action all over the world to protect them.
www.ad-international.org

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