What the experts have to say.

Dear Mayor and Councillors

Humane Society International (HSI) understands you will be deciding on a motion to end the use of council land for circuses with exotic animals this Tuesday 27th November.

We write to give our strong support for the motion. The display of animals for entertainment in circuses plays no role in conservation or education and comes with multiple animal welfare problems. Many councils around the country have taken similar steps to end the practice.

Indeed, using exotic animals for entertainment is usually to the detriment of their conservation in the wild. The demand for animals for entertainment is one more stimulus behind a rapacious and unsustainable international trade in wildlife threatening many species around the world. Neither is it credible to say that displaying an exotic animal in a demeaning situation completely divorced from its natural environment contributes to the circus visitor’s education about that animal.

We urge you to vote for the motion.

Thank you for considering our view.

Yours sincerely