Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters

Mexico City circus operators fear animal ban means end to livelihood

June 28, 2014 Associated Press

The small audience claps as Alex Fuentes dances to Michael Jackson's Billy Jean, as he does every night. His lacklustre moves wouldn't get much attention were it not for his partner - a 300-pound Bengal tiger perched on two paws bobbing alongside him. Armed with a whip, Fuentes coaches his five tigers through a series of surreal acts as parents and children ooh and aah.

For five generations, Fuentes' family has been running the Fuentes Gasca Brothers Circus in Mexico City, but a new law has him worried about its future.

Last week, Mexico City's legislative assembly banned the use of animals in circuses, responding to months of pressure from animal activists. The law is set to take effect a year from now, and it promises steep fines for noncompliance.

Anima Naturalis, one of the groups supporting the measure, say the exotic animals used in the circus are often exposed to long periods of uncomfortable transport, along with small enclosures and aggressive training methods.

Mexico City and six of Mexico's 32 states have now banned circus animals. Nationwide bans on circus animals have swept through Latin America recently, and Fuentes, along with other performers at his family's circus, fear a Mexican federal law is sure to follow the capital's law into effect. Fuentes says he worries people won't come to the circus just for their acrobatic, trapeze and clown acts. "It's the circus, it's magical," the 32-year-old Fuentes said. "It's what I've dedicated my life to since I was 15 and now they want to take it away from me."

Comment: Exploiting animals for entertainment is becoming that of a bygone era. The public has been made aware of the terrible abuses and stress on animals such as big cats, elephants, and other intelligent and sentient beings forced to submit to human domination, and are staying away in droves.

Animals used in entertainment – what you can do to help them

Animals aren’t actors, spectacles to imprison and gawk at, or circus clowns. Yet thousands of elephants, bears, apes, and others are forced to perform silly, difficult tricks under the threat of physical punishment; carted across the country in cramped, stuffy semi-truck trailers; kept chained or caged in barren, filthy enclosures; and regularly separated from their families and friends—all for the sake of entertainment. The consequences can be deadly.

Read more: https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/

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