New cosponsors for federal circus bill!
TEAPSPA now has 49 cosponsors in the House and three in the Senate.
Representative Debra Haaland of New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District is the latest cosponsor of the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA, HR2863/S2121), the federal bill that seeks to ban the use of wild animals in traveling circuses.
Reintroduced by Representatives Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and David Schweikert (R-AZ) in May, the House bill now has 49 cosponsors, while companion bill S2121, introduced for the first time in the Senate by Bob Menéndez (D-NJ) in July, has three. For a full list, click here.
To date, over 45 countries have banned the use of wild animals in traveling circuses. Recent months have seen increased action in the US: 96 circus animal prohibitions exist in 32 states, and New Jersey, Hawaii, and California now have statewide bans.
Pictured: ADI President Jan Creamer and Representatives Schweikert and Grijalva at the TEAPSPA launch in Washington, DC, in May.