Deadline to Ban Mexico Circus Animals Looms But Doubt Shrouds Creatures' Fate Jo Tuckman - The Guardian
go to original March 28, 2015

The Mexican authorities have introduced a new law banning certain animals from performing in circuses. The move means the industry now needs to find a way to address the problem of the estimated 2,000 animals it has in captivity - including tigers, elephants and zebras. Ben Bland reports. (BBC/Atlantet)

With animal acts about to be banned from all circuses in Mexico, the fate of the non-human performers has become mired in acrimony and doubts over whether the legislation will actually lead to an improvement in animal protections.

Rather than bring relief to the elephants, lions, tigers and other animals they currently transport around the country in cages, circus owners claim the ban in fact puts the animals in danger.

“A lot of owners don’t want to give the government the animals that are their livelihoods, and which they look after well,” said Armando Cedeño, president of the national association of circus owners. “Some are looking to sell them, and you don’t always know who is buying. Others are so desperate they are thinking of putting them to sleep.”

But the government of Enrique Peña Nieto has brushed aside such warnings with promises of a bright future for Mexico’s four-legged circus performers. The implementation of the ban is just three months away.

“We will ensure that all the animals have top-level destinies that attend to their comfort and wellbeing,” the chief environmental prosecutor, Guillermo Haro, told reporters earlier this month.

Such optimism sounds a little glib given the vagueness of the legislation, the state’s limited capacity to provide sanctuary and a long history of a black market trade in exotic species. All within the context of wildly varying estimates of how many circus animals there are.

Read the rest at The Guardian

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