16 December 2009
Categories: Homepage News, Zoo Check Campaign News
It appears that we may be in the end stages of deliberations on the use of wild animals in circuses in England.
The Minister for Animal Welfare, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, fielded questions on this issue at the AGM of APGAW (Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare) on Tuesday 8th December. It appears that the Government will shortly be issuing a public consultation on how to proceed: whether to ban wild animals in circuses, to implement regulatory standards or implement voluntary standards. Obviously, in our opinion there is only one humane and sensible option – to ban all wild animals from travelling circuses – and we shall be making the strongest case for this on scientific, legal, ethical and public opinion grounds as part of the consultation.
In the meantime, the Minister has repeated his request for supporters of animal groups not to write to him or Defra about the use of animals in circuses: apparently the strength of feeling on this issue is so strong that the civil servants have been swamped by correspondence! Well done to all of you that have contacted the Government on this issue - let's hope your concerns have made a difference. We don't like to presume to tell our supporters whether or not to continue to raise their concerns about the use of wild animals in circuses directly with the Minister or Defra, but we do feel obliged to pass on the message that too many letters of concern or responses to the consultation may cause long delays and prevent a timely conclusion.
As it stands, the Minister indicated that the Government will have an idea of its “direction of travel” on this issue prior to the anticipated general election in March
Keep checking the website - we will keep you updated
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