Norway Bans Elephants in Circuses

New legislation will effectively ban the use of elephants in Norway circuses starting January 1, 2017. Siri Martinsen—manager for Norwegian animal-rights organization NOAH—worked for 25 years to get the law passed and says that the ban is “an important fundamental victory” for elephants and plans to seek similar legislation for remaining “involuntary artists” in Norway. A growing list of cities and countries around the world have banned wild animal performances, including Mexico, Iran, Greece, and Dublin, Ireland. Furthermore, other animals shows such as bullfighting in Spain and marine animal entertainment at SeaWorld have increasingly seen drastic declines in public support.