This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience while browsing it. By clicking 'Got It' you're accepting these terms.
Most recent
Trending
Top Videos
The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!
By Andrea Germanos
Animal welfare advocates are praising soon-to-be introduced legislation in the U.S. that would ban the use of wild animals in traveling circuses.
The measure, the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA), is set to be introduced Tuesday in the House of Representatives.
Sponsored by Arizona Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D) and David Schweikert (R), TEAPSA would amend the Animal Welfare Act by restricting the use of exotic and wild animals in traveling circuses and other traveling performances. The animals are kept prisoner and subject to tortuous treatment in the name of entertainment.
"Confined, abused, and forced to perform, this is the sad reality of circus life for the animals," said TEAPSEA backer and actor Ed Asner in a statement. "The suffering never, ever stops, until they die. Let's finally say 'no' to these horror shows and 'yes' to TEAPSPA!"
The legislation is championed by Animal Defenders International, which has exposed cruelty by handlers in traveling acts and has advocated to secure wild animals' freedom.
LEO WAS BORN IN A CIRCUS CAGE IN PERU. He circles, pushes his face into the leaves, rubs his face on the trunk, then goes on his way. He was rescued by ADI as we enforced a ban on wild animals in circuses. IF IT CAN HAPPEN IN PERU, IT CAN HAPPEN IN THE US! https://t.co/XDdPzmL7X1 pic.twitter.com/HS8MqIPnBE
— ADI (@AnimalDefenders) May 16, 2019
A number of celebrities are backing the measure, as well as numerous animal protection organizations including Big Cat Rescue, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and In Defense of Animals.
"Animals have their spirits broken, beaten out of them, in order to entertain humans in circuses," said actor and director Ricky Gervais. "It is heartbreakingly cruel and humiliating; it belongs to our ignorant past."
"TEAPSPA," Gervais added, "will bring an end to this suffering."
'Saddest Elephant in the World' Wins Freedom, Care After Decades of Chains and Abuse https://t.co/eYE2Uvfw52 @peta @WWF @NWF @Defenders @MercyForAnimals @peta2
— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) February 1, 2018
Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Australian School Runs Out of Water as Shocked Residents See Bottled Water Giants Taking Resources
Two tankers leaving the Tamborine Mountain after being held up for two hours by TM Extinction Rebellion on Dec. 6.
A school in Queensland, Australia sent a note home to parents asking them to send their children with extra water bottles since its water supply has run dry, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
The European Commission introduced a plan to overhaul the bloc's economy to more sustainable, climate-conscious policies and infrastructure, with the goal of being carbon-neutral by 2050, according to CNBC.
By Andrea Germanos
Young activists took over and occupied the main stage at the COP25 climate conference in Madrid, Spain Wednesday and demanded world leaders commit to far more ambitious action to address the ecological emergency.
Saving the Ozone Layer 30 Years Ago Slowed Global Warming. Can Similar Cooperation Now Solve the Climate Crisis?
The Montreal Protocol, a 1987 international treaty prohibiting the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to save the ozone layer, was the first successful multilateral agreement to successfully slow the rate of global warming, according to new research. Now, experts argue that similar measures may lend hope to the climate crisis.
Trending
Police in Wales are in the midst of an unusual investigation: the sudden death of more than 200 starlings.