Bill Description:
This bill would prohibit the use of an exotic animal in an act, ride, performance, or exhibition as part of a traveling show if, during the preceding 15 days, the animal was living or traveling in a mobile housing facility.[teaserbreak]
Exemptions:
• Exhibitions at nonmobile facilities.
• Use of an exotic animal for an outreach program for educational or conservation purposes by a facility accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), if the animal is not kept in a mobile housing facility for more than 12 hours per day.
• Use by a university, college, laboratory, or other research facility registered by the United States Secretary of Agriculture.
• Use in film, television or advertising, if the use does not involve a live public exhibition.
Background:
The tigers, elephants, primates, and other animals used in circus acts are deprived of everything that is important to them. They are kept in small cages or on concrete floors, denied the opportunity to express their physical and social needs, and forced to spend endless hours in transit inside of trailers and train cars. Their training often involves severe punishment, and their handlers may beat, restrain, and sedate them. Animals kept in such conditions frequently display abnormal behaviors such as rocking, swaying, pacing, and self-mutilation. This “zoochosis,” as it is called, indicates extreme mental distress stemming from severe deprivation. The AWA prohibits the worst methods of training and confinement, and any circus found to be in violation is truly brutal to the animals in its care. Circuses with such abhorrent standards of animal welfare do not belong in a compassionate state such as Pennsylvania.
The inhumane conditions for animals in circuses are compounded by the threat these animals pose to the public. Wild animals are inherently unpredictable and incapable of being tamed, and circuses found in violation of the AWA’s safety and confinement standards have a greater potential for attacks and injuries. Born Free USA’s Exotic Incidents Database details many such instances that illustrate the danger of exposing the public to wild animals.
Check out our Animals in Entertainment page for more information on why it is cruel and exploitative to use wild animals in exhibits or shows.
Take Action:
Pennsylvania residents, contact your state senator and urge him or her to support this legislation.
Read the full text here.