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By Jessica Corbett
Animal rights advocates are celebrating a move by the Italian parliament on Wednesday to, over the next year, phase out the use of all animals in circuses and traveling shows.
"We applaud Italy and urge countries like the U.K. and the U.S. to follow this example and end this cruelty," said Jan Creamer, president of Animal Defenders International, which supported the launch of the bill.
"Traveling from place to place, week after week, using temporary collapsible cages and pens, circuses simply cannot provide for the needs of the animals," Creamer said in an Animal Defenders International statement that also featured declarations from the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe and the British Veterinary Association that there are no means by which the physiological, mental and social needs of these animals can be adequately met within a traveling circus.
Creamer traveled to Italy to advocate for the bill's passage. Following a screening of her group's film Lion Ark which is about rescuing animals from illegal circuses in Bolivia, she addressed Italian lawmakers at a workshop to further explain how Animal Defenders International's undercover investigations "have shown the violence and abuse that is used to force these animals to obey and perform tricks."
"Italy has an estimated 100 circuses with some 2,000 animals making this one of the biggest victories in the campaign to stop circus suffering," according to Animal Defenders International's Stop Circus Suffering campaign. The European nation joins 40 other countries and several more municipalities that have outlawed the use of animals in circuses and traveling shows.
The news from Italy comes on the heels of a similar move by the Indian government, and just days before Animal Defenders International plans to host a week of action, beginning Nov. 13, to support the Traveling Exotic Animal & Public Safety Protection Act (also called TEAPSPA or H.R.1759), a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would prohibit traveling wild and exotic animal acts.
Animal rights advocates celebrated the new law on Twitter, and called on other countries to follow suit:
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By Gretchen Goldman
The Independent Particulate Matter Review Panel has released their consensus recommendations to the EPA administrator on the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter. The group of 20 independent experts, that were disbanded by Administrator Wheeler last October and reconvened last week, hosted by the Union of Concerned Scientists, has now made clear that the current particulate pollution standards don't protect public health and welfare.
55 Elephants Have Died in 2 Months From Unprecedented Zimbabwe Drought, Wildlife Agency Says
The unprecedented drought that has caused a water crisis in Zimbabwe has now claimed the life of at least 55 elephants since September, according to a wildlife spokesman, as CNN reported.
By John C. Cannon
Life is reshuffling itself at an unsettling clip across Earth's surface and in its oceans, a new study has found.
The country's largest fossil fuel company goes on trial today to face charges that it lied to investors about the safety of its assets in the face of the climate crisis and potential legislation to fight it, as the AP reported.
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El Niños are getting stronger due to climate change, according to a new study in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
By Julia Ries
- Antibiotic resistance has doubled in the last 20 years.
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- Health experts say antibiotic prescriptions should only be given when absolutely necessary in order to avoid growing resistance.
Over the past decade, antibiotic resistance has emerged as one of the greatest public health threats.
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Corazón Latino, a Nonprofit That Helps Urban Residents Spend More Time in Nature
There are hundreds of millions of acres of public land in the U.S., but not everyone has had the chance to hike in a national forest or picnic in a state park.
By Simon Evans
Renewable sources of electricity are set for rapid growth over the next five years, which could see them match the output of the world's coal-fired power stations for the first time ever.