Bill Description:
This bill prohibits circuses from conducting shows or other performances in the state for two years after a circus has been found to be in violation or in non-compliance with the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).[teaserbreak]
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 New York.
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 in New York. For instance, in Poughkeepsie an elephant in the Hanneford Circus escaped from the ring and charged toward the crowd. Three people were injured while fleeing. In the Bronx, a horse traveling with Circus With a Purpose “went berserk” and tipped over a children’s cart, causing panic. Twenty children and two adults were treated for injuries. These are just two of many tragic incidents, and serve to illustrate that exposing the public to wild animals, particularly at a facility that does not meet AWA requirements, is very dangerous.
Read the full text here for the Assembly version and here for the Senate version.