Hurrah! Government Finally Acts to Ban Wild Animals in Circuses! | Animal Writes | PETA.org.uk
  • 16
  • Apr

Hurrah! Government Finally Acts to Ban Wild Animals in Circuses!

At last – wild-animal circuses are to become a thing of the past in England! On Tuesday, a draft bill was tabled in Parliament to stop circuses using animals beginning in 2015 – a move that all British people can celebrate.

zebras wild

This means that, in this country, no more wild animals will be abused in the ring in the name of entertainment. No more elephants, camels or zebras will be denied everything that is natural and important to them, confined to cages or boxcars and dragged around the country and forced to perform demeaning and often painful tricks for human amusement.

This legislation has been a long time coming. David Cameron was instructed by Parliament to get wild animals out of circuses in 2011, but he dragged his heels in implementing the ban – despite overwhelming support for it among the British public. A 2011 Defra consultation saw 94 per cent of respondents, including the British Veterinary Association, backing an end to this archaic form of entertainment.

circus good news

Today, though, the government seems finally to have listened and has decided to do the right thing for animals. Well done, and thank you to the thousands of you who wrote to David Cameron about the ban – your actions have paid off! It’s time for animal abusers to pack their bags and wave goodbye to wild-animal circuses for good – a huge step forward for animals and for a more compassionate Britain.

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Comments

  1. avatar Chris says:

    Well it was about time,let’s see if the USA will follow the ban as well. Circuses in my eyes were always a torture to animals. 2015 why so late why couldn’t it started in 2014????

  2. avatar janessa says:

    Love you PETA. America next please in my lifetime!

  3. avatar Nan newall says:

    Once again, the UK leads the way in fighting for animal rights. Thank you, UK, for taking yet an other step to end animal abuse. When will the rest of the world catch up?

  4. avatar Malcolm says:

    Is the art of training birds for entertainment also included in this ban?

  5. avatar Nicole says:

    EXCELLENT news !!!

  6. avatar Fiona Frank says:

    Delighted to learn that animals are now banned from circuses. One form of animal abuse down….
    Great work. Thanks.

  7. avatar Hana says:

    GREAT! congratulations!!!!

  8. avatar gmc says:

    Long time overdue. Well done PETA!

  9. avatar Harry Blair says:

    So Cameron dragged his heels over wild animals in circuses? A pity he didn’t drag his heels over benefit cuts.
    I’m afraid it won’t be in your lifetime,Janessa. Americans have no love for wild animals. Just see what they’re doing to the wolf and the buffalo.

  10. avatar RUTH says:

    This good news is such a relief…well done to all the hard working dedicated workers and supporters who made this all possible…..reforming ourselves,each other,our society,the world,is what we are all here for, the animal kingdom so deserve our love and respect as much as the human race does for each other!

  11. avatar BROWN-JONES says:

    BAN THIS CRUELTY TODAY!

  12. avatar plault christine says:

    tant mieux il était temps…TOUS LES ANIMAUX NE MERITENT QUE NOTRE RESPECT… LAISSONS LES TRANQUILLE !

  13. avatar clare crum says:

    its about time the world knew what a circus really is about

  14. avatar quievreux says:

    Excellente nouvelle. J’espère que d’autres suivront. Il y a encore tant et tant de cruauté partout !

  15. avatar sue says:

    should that not include the dancing dog is that not abuse of similar kind
    and where does that stop – dogs today who knows tomorrow – I thought
    Simon was an advocate of animals and yet he chooses a dancing dog to win a
    talent show – is that not animal abuse – making a dog dance for money!!!!

  16. avatar Angela Harris says:

    At last – please make sure this goes through! Why 2 years though? The animals will need good homes of course so only the best zoos and parks etc please!! A.

  17. avatar Neville Wells says:

    A ban has taken far too long. It can’t come soon enough, so why another two years of waiting ? and what about domestic performing animals, I wonder ?

  18. avatar jorien says:

    YES! YES! YES! :) :)

  19. avatar Neville Wells says:

    Only send the reprieved animals to decent spacious caring sanctuaries. There is no such thing as a good zoo !

  20. It won’t just be Nellie the Elephant who packs her trunk and waves goodbye to the circus. All the other wild animals will be joining her.

  21. avatar chander kumar soni says:

    congrats.

  22. avatar Jean Wykes says:

    Pity we have to wait until 2015 but better late than never . Now let’s make it world wide.

  23. avatar Yasmin Zimnowodzki says:

    What glorious news! I am so very happy that England is showing the world that wild animals do NOT belong in circuses. This is a giant step forward, but shows that we are slowly moving forward in terms of compassion and empathy.

    I remember seeing video footage of Mary Chipperfield beating her chimps and this stayed with me and that beautiful elephant Anne who was beaten and shackled..Animals which belong in the wild, to be free and roam, but not to be forced to perform inane stupid “tricks” to loud music day in, day out – shackled, tethered and beaten and denied freedom and all that is natural to them.

    I do hope that the remaining “circus animals” can be given a good home and the right to live out the rest of their lives free of cruelty, pain, stress and distress..

    Thank you PETA and for everyone who has helped speak up for these poor animals and I hope other countries now follow suit.

  24. avatar Laura Hidalgo says:

    Freat news!!!

  25. avatar linda says:

    Love is Freedom … Free all animals from torture and abuse amen xx

  26. avatar jennifer birolini says:

    basta crudeltà!!!

  27. avatar Paula says:

    Yes!! That is good news. But take good care of the animals, so they get a good home after ending circuslife and beginning this new law.

  28. avatar Rommy says:

    Outstanding!!!

  29. avatar Julie Baines says:

    So, so happy to read this and ashamed of being too silly to know any better when I was young. Well done to everyone who worked hard to make this a reality, and thank you.

  30. avatar Fran says:

    PETA you absolutely rock!!!!!

  31. avatar Jan Whiteley says:

    This great news is long overdue but the animals must not be discarded without thought. They must be given to good sanctuaries/safari parks and not to zoos.
    It is time all other countries put a stop to this cruelty. Well done PETA.

  32. avatar John Bonser says:

    I’ve been lobbying MPs, to get wild animal acts banned, for quite a while now. Last year over 200 MPs voted against animal acts in circuses. This year a licencing law has been introduced whereby all the acts are monitored by vets, and the circus owners have a duty of care to the animals. The 2015 ban can’t come soon enough, then all the wild animals will be seized. My worry is that the circuses will move to the continent, where there is the most atrocious treatment of the circus animals.

    Please will everyone lobby their MP to stop these animals from being exported by the thugs that run these circuses.

  33. avatar Val Kerry says:

    GREAT NEWS EH! WOW!!!! Ifeel like jumping up and down !!!!!!

  34. avatar Frances Bekhechi says:

    This is brilliant news and long overdue. I do hope, though, that there’s a plan to confiscate the animals and send them to sanctuaries. Surely the circus owners won’t be allowed to keep them and move them elsewhere…

  35. avatar jan says:

    Finally a win for Animals ABOUT BLOODY TIME!!! Good on you EU

  36. avatar Benny says:

    Well done England.

  37. avatar nathan says:

    Good news in england.
    Help malta to protects the birds. There killing thousands every year.

    Shame on you MALTA

  38. Superfabulous news! Thanks for keeping the pressure on issues like this!

  39. avatar suvarna shrotri says:

    Peta you are doing a great & noble job. Animals will bless u!!

  40. avatar Dorothy Beechers says:

    I am so pleased the Government w taken action to stpp the sadistic abuse against animals in the Circus.
    I often wondered as a young girl, growing up and when the Circus came, how they got the animals to perform tricks, well now we have the proof, that they constantly lived in fear of beatings if they did not perform.
    I never have been to a Circus and will only go to one if it has humans, who choose to perform!!!.
    I cannot believe that it was allowed to go on, the rest of the world needs to do the same now, to end all animal
    suffering.

  41. avatar Ella says:

    About time! Why can’t they do it now though…
    Oh well, they’ve obviously come to their senses. *clap clap*

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