Circus Acts That Use Wild Cats Should be Banned

Worldwide Bans

Updated from – Animal Defenders International : : Animals in entertainment : Worldwide circus bans (ad-international.org)

EUROPE

Austria: Nationwide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses.
Belgium: Nationwide ban on the use of most wild animals in circuses (Parrots and camel are classed as domestic)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Nationwide ban on all animals in circuses
Croatia: Nationwide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses.
Czech Republic: Nationwide ban on the use of certain species in circuses.
Cyprus: Nationwide ban on all animals in circuses
Denmark: Nationwide ban on the use of certain species in circuses.
Estonia: Nationwide ban on the use of wild-born animals in circuses.
Finland: Nationwide ban on the use of certain species in circuses.
Greece: Nationwide ban on all animals in circuses
Hungary: Nationwide ban on the use of wild caught animals in circuses, the purchase and training of elephants and primates for circus performances and the purchase, training and use of CITES (Appendix 1) listed species in circuses.
Ireland: Local bans on the use of animals in circuses in Clonakilty, Cork, Drogheda, Fingal, Galway City, Kildare, Monaghan, Moyle, South Dublin and Waterford
Malta:Nationwide ban on all animals for performances, exhibitions, shows or training for the circus
The Netherlands Nationwide ban on the use and transport of animals in circuses, with exemptions for certain, mostly domestic, species
Norway Local ban on wild or exotic animal shows in Tromsø municipality
Poland: Nationwide ban on the use of wild-born animals in circuses.
Portugal: Nationwide ban restricting the use of great apes in circuses and the acquisition and breeding of CITES listed species.
Slovenia: Nationwide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses
Spain: Local bans on the use of wild animals in circuses in several towns including Barcelona.
Sweden: Nationwide ban on the use of certain species in circuses.
UK: Over 200 local authorities have bans on animal circuses (more than two thirds of these ban all performing animals, the remainder ban just wild animals). A Government commitment to ban the use of wild animals in circuses – this is yet to be enacted.

NORTH AMERICA

USA: 46 partial or full bans on circus animals in municipalities in the US, in 21 states.
Canada: Local bans on the use of animals in circuses in 28 municipal jurisdictions.

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina: Local bans on the use of wild animals in circuses in over 20 cities including a ban in the city of Buenos Aires.
Bolivia: Nationwide ban on the use of wild and domestic animals in circuses.
Brazil: Local bans on the use of wild and domestic animals in circuses in the districts of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Pernambuco, Paraiba, Rio Grande do Sul, Espiritu Santo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Alagoas and a number of bans in cities within another four Brazilian states.
Chile: Local bans on the use of wild and domestic animals in circuses in the city of Santiago.
Colombia: Nationwide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses; Local ban on the use of animals in circuses in the capital, Bogota.
Costa Rica: Nationwide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses.
Ecuador: Nationwide ban on the use of native wild animals; restrictions on the use of exotic animals; ban on the import of both native and exotic wild animals with circuses
El Salvador: Nationwide ban on the “Income, use or abuse of wildlife species in all kinds of entertainment”
Mexico:Nationwide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses
Panama:Nationwide ban prohibiting “entry of wild animals for use in static and travelling circuses and similar shows”
Paraguay: Nationwide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses.
Peru: Nationwide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses as well as a local ban on all animals in Magdalena del Mar.

OCEANIA

Australia: Local bans on the use of animals in circuses in several towns including Hobsons Bay, Surf Coast Shire, Parramata and Lismore.

ASIA

India: Nationwide ban on the use of certain species in circuses.
Israel: Nationwide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses.
Singapore: Nationwide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses.
Taiwan: Nationwide prohibition on the import or export of protected wildlife for circuses.

Big Cat Rescue does something called Operant Conditioning to teach our cats to do things we need them to do for medical reasons, such as lean against the fence to get their shots or open their mouth so we can look at their teeth.  We do this with rewards and the cats have fun because they are smart and bored and love the attention.  We never punish or withhold food to make them do something, and the cats only do it when they want to – not on our schedule.

But because tigers and lions in circus acts must perform specific acts at precise times and “the show must go on,” positive reinforcement is not the only method used by circus trainers or night club magicians.  Often the cats are beaten, starved and confined for long periods of time in order to get them to cooperate with what the trainers want.  And life on the road means that most of a cat’s life is spent in a circus wagon in the back of a semi-truck or in a crowded, stinking box car on a train or barge.

The messages the public gets from circus acts couldn’t be worse.  These acts either show man dominating one of nature’s most magnificent creatures, which would never happen on an even playing field, or worse are promoted as illustrations of the “special bond” the trainer has with his captive.  The latter just fuels the trade in big cats as pets and that never ends well for the cat.

Last, but not least, circus acts are transient and often are a way of moving big cats across state lines or even in and out of the country.  Because the endangered species protection acts are so poorly enforced, this transience creates a legal cover for the illegal importation and exportation of exotic cats.  If a circus act leaves the U.S. with 10 tigers and comes back with 25, they can just say that the 15 additional tigers were born on the road – there is no way to prove it if they were taken from the wild.  No U.S. government agency tracks the ages nor the individual cats in private collections.

You can help stop the poaching and the abuse by just Saying NO to the circus.