UK Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman MP has today announced that the government will not ban the use of wild animals in circuses in England, but instead intends that “High welfare standards for travelling performing wild animals in circuses will be ensured through a strict new licensing regime.”
Areas being considered as part of licensing conditions include:
- the rules for transport of the animal, including how long animals can spend being transported without rest periods;
- the type of quarters that must be provided for the animal, including the size of the quarters and the facilities provided, including winter quarters;
- the treatment of animals by trainers and keepers, including performance and the training methods that may be used.
This disappointing decision flies in the face of overwhelming public and veterinary opinion in support of a ban on wild animal circuses, as well as recent evidence of cruelty and abuse towards an aged, arthritic elephant.
In 2010, 94% of respondents to the DEFRA consultation on wild animals in travelling circuses in England supported a ban on this outmoded entertainment. OneKind was one of them. We told DEFRA that we could not see how statutory regulation could remove the fundamental and inherent welfare problems of a travelling circus including confinement, travel, restriction of behaviour and performance stress.
We said:
Travelling circuses would be very difficult to regulate effectively, with the resources that are likely to be available. Regulators would need to monitor conditions of travel, housing, handling, training and performance on a day-to-day basis during the touring season, which is unlikely to be practical. Indeed, most of the detailed information about animal welfare in circuses to date has been uncovered by patient, long-term investigations by animal protection NGOs rather than by regulators, veterinarians or scientists.
None of that has changed over the last year and a half. Yet today, the UK government appears to have decided to take the most expensive, least effective option.
DEFRA refers to a legal challenge to the Austrian ban on wild animal circuses as part justification for its decision. Yet the Austrian government held out against challenges through the European Commission and Ombudsman and their law is still in place. If the case in question is one for the Austrian domestic courts, it is hard to see the relevance for UK lawmakers. And hard to see why the UK government cannot demonstrate similar resolve on a fundamental issue of animal welfare.
No doubt the 15,000 UK citizens who (so far) who have signed The Independent newspaper’s petition urging the government to take a stand in line with public and veterinary opinion and ban these outdated travelling entertainments will be equally perplexed. Why not add your name to the petition here?
And remember - Westminster does not legislate for animal welfare in Scotland. That’s why OneKind is running a parallel petition to be lodged with the Scottish Parliament as soon as the Public Petitions Committee is established. If you live in Scotland, please sign OneKind's Scottish petition too, and help Scotland to lead the way in making the UK free of travelling circuses using wild animals.