ADI welcomes new circus bill fronted by former Defra Minister
A new backbench bill fronted by former Labour Defra Minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP seeks to ban wild animal acts before the next election
With the Government’s longstanding pledge to ban wild animals in circuses failing to get off the starting blocks, ADI is delighted to welcome a new backbench bill fronted by former Labour Defra Minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP which seeks to ban wild animal acts before the next election.
Despite its omission from the Queen’s Speech last month, the Government continues to state that it remains committed to the ban. Just this week ADI received a personal letter from the Prime Minister, in which David Cameron writes, “While the recent Queen’s Speech did not contain the Government’s proposed Wild Animals in Circuses Bill, let me reassure you that it remains our position that the use of wild animal acts in travelling circuses is an outdated practice and that we will introduce a ban as soon as Parliamentary time allows”.
The communication was in response to a letter signed by ADI and 75 celebrity and political campaigners urging the Government to bring forward legislation to ban wild animals in circuses. On the day it was presented, the Prime Minister confirmed to the ADI deputation, “We’re going to do it”.
Whilst it is reassuring that the Government remain committed to a ban, we need action to be taken now.
The Government first announced that it would ban wild animal acts back in March 2012 and the delay in bringing in the legislation has seen the number of wild animal acts increase.
As ADI had feared, we have also seen the return of big cats to Peter Jolly’s Circus, one of just two circuses still performing with wild animals in Britain. Earlier this month ADI exposed how these animals are not coping with their unnatural lives; a lion and tiger were filmed pacing up and down their ‘beastwagon’, exhibiting abnormal behaviour not seen in the wild.
ADI applauds Jim Fitzpatrick MP for taking a lead on this and will be working with him to ensure that this important and long-overdue bill is backed by MPs as it progresses through Parliament.
The former Labour Defra Minister, who will introduce the bill in September, said: “I’ve been working on this issue for many years, and committed to taking action when I was a Defra Minister. It’s clear that the public and Parliament are overwhelmingly in favour of banning wild animals in circuses. It is unacceptable that animals continue to suffer as they travel across the country, and I hope that MPs from all parties will support this bill which will have a huge impact on the animals that are currently in circuses in Britain. I’m looking forward to working with Animal Defenders International, who are leading the global campaign on this issue, to ensure it can become law.”
The animals cannot wait for the Government, they need our help now! Please help us secure the ban that was promised.
Take action and help bring in the ban!
- Please urge your MP to support the 10 Minute Rule Motion: Wild Animals in Circuses and secure the ban before the General Election
- If Peter Jolly’s Circus or Circus Mondao – the last two circuses to perform with wild animals – comes to town, please speak out against the suffering. We can help you organise a protest and provide materials for you to display & distribute – email the ADI team for details
- Make a donation towards our Stop Circus Suffering campaign
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Please ban all animals from circuses. It is barbaric and out of date
I absolute agree. this has been promised for far far too long and I have come to have no faith, no liking and no trust in this awful government. smoke and mirrors, lies and cheating.
I have great love and compassion for all life. I really don’t understand why wild animals are kept in chains for human amusement espacially in this century. Circuses are cruel, barbaric and have no place in a civilized world. I think that they lack the intelligence to get real jobs. It’s so easy to terrorise animals because there are no laws to protect them from evil humans. Shame on circuses and shame on all those people who are watching that shit.
i thought wild animal acts where banned at circuses etc why hasnt this been fully stopped after all if it was children would have been stopped well by now!
ANIMALS DO NOT BELONG IN CAGES TO BE LOCKED UP. THEY WERE NOT MADE TO DO SILLY TRICKS FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT. THEY BELONG TO MOTHER NATURE, WILD AND FREE. SO STOP USING THEM AS OBJECTS.
BAN THE ANACHRONISTIC AND CRUEL CIRCUS WITH ANIMALS NOW! WE ARE IN 21ST CENTURY HAVE YOU NOTICE THAT?
Dear Mr Gibbs
Please support the 10 minute rule motionWild Animals in Circuses,and secure a ban before the next general election.
Thank you very much
Yours Sincerly
Anne Smith
Hi Anne, have you sent off a message directly to your MP. This is just for comments.
In 2014 this should not still be happening this animals should be free roaming in the green with the sun and rain over them please stop this now
Wild animals belong in the wild not in circuses …How do you think these animals perform tricks well it is by horrific tratment to squash their souls they are beaten into submission then when they have been used to make money and perform they are locked away in small cruel spaces until they are next needed. Please ban all animals in circuses they don’t belong there ….They belong in the wild with their own species not with humans .
Please ban circuses with animals
The care of these animals is atrocious — their teeth are pulled, claws removed among other horrors they are subjected to. Please use your power to end this. They are God’s creatures as much as you are.
Its time this atrocity was banned forever, it is inhumane and cruel. For those who say that this is the only way people are able to see wild animals then I say they are not seeing wild animals they are seeing an animal beaten down and nothing like the animal it was meant to be in the wild.
The ban must go ahead to stop these poor animals suffering
Please allow animals to be free and live in peace. Caged, abused and animals made to perform reflect negatively on a society. All nations should honor these magnificent gifts!
Thank you.
Please ban circuses forever and let wild animals go back to Mother Nature Freedom right now.. I mean it.. Animals been suffered so,much from abusd and animals cruelty a lot. I hate that a lot… I’m animal lover cuz I really care about wild animals at circuses that are suffering a lot and not feed them well and no water and keep elephants chained and other animals in cages with out no food and water.. That is not right so, Time for them to let wild animals go freedom right now and ban the circuses!!! RIGHT now…… Move this everything out….. Thanks for,listening to me I’m mad!!!!!!!!!!
It’s time!!! Be in the forefront of this movement and be the first to ban this outdated practice. Your constituents will love you for it!!!!
Please please please ban wild animal acts and contribute towards stopping cruelty towards animals. This a horrible world for animals… Please please please…
Es absolutamente incomprensible el uso de animales salvajes (o no) en circos o cualquier otra actividad, los animales merecen una vida mejor y merecen ser respetados los magnificos seres vivos que son .El mundo sigue intentando mejorar asi que debemos todos juntos decir NO AL MALTRATO ANIMAL
For the wild animals who are continuing to suffer in the last two circuses touring Britain, let’s get this ban passed, once and for all.
STOP !!!
Please please help these animals out how miserable there lives must be this is so wrong.
We can´t stand by and let the animal continue to suffer !
We can´t stand by and Let the Animale continue to Suffer !
All animals are equal we were put here to share the planet with them not abuse and mistreat them ..
slavery was abolished but obviously not for us all
This was posted recently on a facebook page. I am totally dismayed by the reply from DEFRA totally. It seems our government has finally lost its balls !
Gareth Allen posted in Kernow Animal Rights
Gareth Allen
Gareth Allen 15 August 15:28
I dont say much online, But this has got to me big time. The letter below was not sent to me but to someone on another page its from DEFRA regarding circus animals . I was delighted in the fact that as of Dec 2015 circus animals would be banned and this beautiful creatures would not endure such horrid life any longer sadly the letter confirms that is not the case in fact things are going to get worse for these poor animals the circuses will only be banned from using them in the show. they will still be allowed to keep them, train them ,transport them. but as pets the law/ ban will not affect them owning these animals however it will mean they will no longer have to abide the the current regulations and they wont have to be inspected anymore or licensed totally shocking .
*** Circus animals Thank you for your recent e-mail about circus animals. I have been asked to reply. The Government’s policy is to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses, not their ownership by circus operators or employees. The draft Wild Animals in Circuses Bill, published last April, was drafted to prohibit travelling circuses from performing with or exhibiting wild animals. Following a ban, it will be for the animals’ owners to decide whether they want to rehome them. Any wild animal kept as pet by a circus operator or employee would, as with any other pet animal, still be provided the significant welfare protection of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Under the 2006 Act, anyone found guilty of being cruel to an animal, or failing to provide for an animal’s welfare needs, may be banned from owning animals, fined up to £20,000 and/or sent to prison for up to 6 months. The amendment to the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 proposed in the draft Bill would also mean that, for a number of species of wild animal, a licence from a local authority would be required for the animal to be allowed to be kept by a circus operator or employee. It is the Government’s view that further restrictions on wild animals in circuses could amount to a de facto restriction on ownership. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, which undertook pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Wild Animals in Circuses Bill agreed. In their report on the draft Bill they commented that “to introduce greater restrictions on ownership than are intended; the Bill is focused on the use of animals, not their ownership, and in the absence of any welfare issue, it is hard to see that the Bill should go further or that it could do so without successful [legal] challenge. Yours sincerely, Gaye Halliday Defra – Customer Contact Unit. ***
EL RESPETO A LA LIBERTAD Y A LA VIDA DE NUESTROS SEMEJANTES..ES AMARNOS A NOSOTROS MISMOS…Y PARA MI ESTAS BELLAS CRIATURAS NO SEN ANIMALES…SON SERES DE LUZ QUE NOS ENSEÑAN A AMAR…….PERO EL SER HUMANO TOMA DE LA VIDA Y DE LO QUE TIENE VIDA MAS DE LO QUE REQUIERE PARA VIVIR ASI MISMO………POR ESO ES QUE NUESTRO PLANETA ESTA PAGANDO LAS CONSECUENCIAS….