The organisation Animal Advocacy and Protection (AAP) continues its fight to obtain legislation at a European level prohibiting the use of wild animals in circuses and providing for a positive list of species that can be kept as domestic animals.
On Tuesday, 4 June, Raquel García-van der Walle, head of Public Policy at AAP, explained to EUROPE that she believed that a European ban on animals in circuses could be decided in the next legislature, notably thanks to the support of many MEPs. Ninety-four MEPs from the last chamber supported such an embargo.
Incidentally, 18 EU countries have already adopted such a ban, and 24 have provisions aiming to impose restrictions on the use of animal species in circuses.
AAP is trying to get the European Commission to pass a ban at the European level by having the institution strengthen the rules on the internal market or those affecting the consumer.
Raquel García worries that major countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, have not imposed a national ban on wild animals in circuses. She nevertheless points out that, in Spain’s case, 10 autonomous regions have imposed this embargo and that “74.6% of the Spanish population already lives in a ‘territory’ where wild animals in circuses are no longer allowed”.
There are more than 200 million domestic animals in Europe, including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and amphibians. However, many species — exotic animals in particular — are not suited for life in captivity. Keeping these animals in captivity can lead to serious animal welfare problems, can be detrimental to biodiversity or public health, and can pose a threat to the health of other animals.
Positive list. Within the EU, it is up to EU countries to legislate on exotic pets. This legislation is very different from country to country. Provisions in some countries prohibit people from owning certain species of animals (blacklist or negative list), whereas others allow certain species to be kept (positive list).
AAP and the NGO Eurogroup for Animals are calling for a positive list to be created at the European level, which is preferable to a negative list due to its simplicity: a concise list of animals that can be kept is easy for owners and regulatory bodies to apply and creates less bureaucracy for governments. Moreover, the concept of a positive list is already supported by the European Court of Justice. A positive list of authorised species already exists in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
Animal rescue. Wildlife movements among Member States are common and extensive. The NGO AAP can only satisfy a fraction of animal rescue requests.
Furthermore, not all Member States have rescue centres to shelter non-domesticated exotic animals. For this reason, it is very important, in the organisation’s opinion, that rescue centres work together to ensure their limited capacities are being used effectively.
AAP emphasises the need to retain the option of transporting animals of unknown health status without going through the quarantine phase as well as the need to clarify and standardise the provisions governing rescue centres and animal transport. “This is particularly relevant to the AAP’s rescue work with primates and big cats”, explains the organisation, which is asking the Commission to address the problem through delegated acts in the new animal health legislation.
The Animal Welfare Intergroup in the European Parliament is expected to discuss the subject of the positive list in October or November. MEPs will organise an event in October or November on banning animals in circuses. A conference will also be held in the autumn on the subject of wildlife rescue in Europe. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)