City of madrid to ban circuses with wild animals

Madrid, January 31, 2017.- The Municipal Plenary of the City of Madrid has voted in favour of banning circuses with wild animals from entering the capital of Spain.

The decision is a result of the perseverance of the NGO coalition InfoCircos, which was founded by the Born Free Foundation and the Spanish NGOs, ANDA and FAADA.  

“This is a significant and an historic decision for Spain,” explains Daniel Turner, Associate Director at Born Free. “Spain has been considered a safe haven for circuses with wild animals but now I am pleased to acknowledge that we may be at a tipping point of change. Born Free is proud to support the work of InfoCircos, which continues to persuade Municipalities, as well as Regions across Spain, that this type of so called ‘entertainment’ must end.”

The decision by the City of Madrid will be enacted in a new Municipal Ordinance on Animal Protection, which will be ratified in the next few months. There 50 Municipalities in Madrid, and all of them have will enact the ban of circuses with wild animals. Across Spain, a total of 380 Municipalities have now denounced the use of wild animals in circuses, whilst the autonomous regions of Valencia, Catalonia, Galicia, Castilla-La-Mancha, Extremadura and Cantabria have also favoured an end to the archaic practice.  

Marta Merchán, coordinator of the InfoCircos platform said, “”Society clearly demands an end to this type of obsolete practice that causes so much animal suffering. InfoCircos will continue is work hard until Spain becomes free from circuses with wild animals.”