UK must ban wild animals in circuses

As animals are endowed with emotions, they feel fear and pain. They weave strong social bonds and as we wish only to live free.

We therefore strongly oppose the exploitation and suffering of animals for our "entertainment".

And so ask you to put in place a ban on circuses with animals in our communes.

During the off-season, the animals stay in transport boxes, stables or even in trucks or trailers. Few circuses have the means or the will to invest in adapted shelters that will only serve a few months a year.

This confinement has devastating physical and psychological consequences. An American study reveals that captive elephants spend about a quarter of their day shaking their heads or swinging compulsively, while bears roam their cages back and forth.

Animals used by circuses are constantly transported from one representation to another in an environment where their most basic needs can not be met. More than 90% of the time, they are locked up in cattle wagons, or dreary temporary enclosures, and can be beaten and punished as part of inhumane training methods. This is not an entertainment.

Animals in circuses are deprived of all that is natural and important to them. Their mental equilibrium is broken and they are isolated, chained, alone, degraded and idle. Behaviors such as pacing, biting bars, circling and self-mutilation are common in show animals. It is now recognized that this neurotic behavior is caused by captivity and an artificial lifestyle.

All animals held in circuses have specific needs. Some, like lions, need a warm climate; others, like bears, have a cooler climate. All need space, activities, social connections, water and food in sufficient quantity. In circuses, they have none of that. They are locked in transport cages or narrow pens from which they only go out to make their number.

Because animals do not naturally ride a bicycle, do not stand on their heads, do not balance on balloons or do not jump through fire hoops, coaches use whips, tight necklaces, muzzle , electric batons, chop sticks ("bull hock") and other painful tools to force them to perform their show. Physical punishment has long been the standard method of training for animals in circuses.

Animals in captivity are known to "crack" under pressure. There have been dozens of documented human deaths and injuries attributable to animals held in circuses or other captive environments.

 In their places, we would rather not rather live FREE with the risks that that entails but to take advantage of our freedom, surrounded by ours or then to live a life of loneliness in a cage, traversing kilometers and kilometers in trucks, to execute tricks for the good will of the trainers, be subject to their wills and make tricks against nature such as sit on his buttocks for an elephant which can cause serious internal injuries.

Is it not better to encourage species conservation programs in the countries of origin of these animals and to show very beautiful reports to children and adults wishing to discover these animals in their natural environment?

Far from being only a social debate, the presence of animals in circuses also makes cities responsible for their obligation to enforce the legislation in force.

Also, we wanted to remind you that scientific studies agree that their detention in circuses is contrary to the physiological needs of wild animals.