Circus watch Ireland urges council to take action on Circus Animal cruelty

Circus Watch Ireland and the Alliance for Animal Rights today hailed last night's decision by Fingal County Council to ban circuses using wild animal acts from public lands in the council area as ‘a milestone' in the campaign for an end to cruelty to circus animals.

Welcoming the ban, spokesperson for Circus Watch Ireland Nuala Donlon congratulated the Fingal councillors for passing the motion and called on county and city councils throughout the republic to follow their example and impose similar bans.

“This is an extremely important first step towards ending the Victorian practice of keeping wild animals in travelling shows, and it reflects the growing opposition in this country to the cruelty to animals which is inherent in all animal circuses”, Ms. Donlon said.

The ban, the first of its kind in the Republic, follows years of campaigning by Circus Watch Ireland and the Alliance for Animal Rights. Both groups have continuously highlighted the conditions which circus animals are forced to live in and the dubious practices employed to get animals to ‘perform' in the ring.

Ms. Donlon pointed out that similar bans have already been introduced by local authorities throughout the United Kingdom and continental Europe. Earlier this year Anderenstown Council in Belfast passed a motion preventing circuses containing any animals from using council property while an identical motion will be voted on tomorrow night in Newtownabbey Council in Antrim.

“We are calling on all county and city councillors in the Republic to follow the lead of their counterparts in Fingal Council and take the humane decision to ban circuses with animal acts from using public lands. In 2007 animals shouldn't be subjected to such appalling suffering in the name of entertainment.,” Ms. Donlon said.