Dublin Bans Wild Animal Circuses

The city council of Dublin, Ireland has signed legislation that ban the use of wild animals in circuses. Counselor Noeleen Reilly brought the motion in front of local authorities in an effort to outlaw the dated practice in the capital city. Currently, the country’s traveling circuses include elephants, tigers, camels, horses, ponies, crocodiles, and parrots. “Training and torturing animals to perform tricks for our entertainment in an unnatural environment is inhuman and degrading,” Riley said after reaching out to Ireland’s Minister of Agriculture to urge an introduction of the ban on a national level. In a statement by Animal Rights Action Network, spokesperson John Carmody said, “With countries all over the world introducing such legislation, Ireland still has much to do to bring our outdated and old-fashioned views of using animals for entertainment into modern century thinking.” To date, wild animal circuses have been banned in a growing list of countries including Iran, Bolivia, Greece, Belgium, The Netherlands, Mexico, and cities such as Warsaw, Poland.