Circus Performers in Mexico Fear That Without Animals, People Won't Come to Show The Associated Press
go to original June 28, 2014

 Alex Fuentes coaches Furia, a female Bengal Tiger, during a performance with the Fuentes Gasca Brothers Circus in Mexico City. (AP/Sean Havey)

For five generations, Alex Fuentes' family has been running the Fuentes Gasca Brothers Circus in Mexico City, but a new law has him worried about its future. Last week Mexico City's legislative assembly banned the use of animals in circuses, responding to months of pressure from animal activists.

The law is set to take effect a year from now, and it promises steep fines for noncompliance.

Anima Naturalis, one of the groups supporting the measure, say the exotic animals used in the circus are often exposed to long periods of uncomfortable transport, along with small enclosures and aggressive training methods.

Mexico City and six of Mexico's 32 states have now banned circus animals. Nationwide bans on circus animals have swept through Latin America recently, and Fuentes, along with other performers at his family's circus, fear a Mexican federal law is sure to follow when the capital's law goes into effect.

Fuentes says he worries people won't come to the circus just for their acrobatic, trapeze and clown acts.

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