French animal advocacy groups have finally achieved something that they have long battled for: banning the use of wild animals in circus shows.
The modern circus should not be about animal cruelty and the exploitation of living beings, it should be about acrobatics and artistic performances. France became the latest country to ban the use of wild animals in live circus acts and the circuses have a two-year buffer time to stop all such performances.
The recently adopted law also offers protection to wild animals, such as lions, tigers, bears and the ban extends to marine shows as well. The law is part of a series of new regulations, which also include the ban of mink farming and monetary fines of up to 75,000 euros for animal cruelty. However, the ban does not apply to animals being kept in zoos and other permanent exhibitions and omits to apply penalties for hunting and bullfighting.
This caused quite a stir among animal rights activists who consider that the law is not extreme enough to discourage all types of animal cruelty-related practices.
Indeed, this is only a small step taken by the country towards ending animal cruelty, but hopefully more similar regulations will follow until the exploitation of animals is banned forever.
