California Lawmakers Ban Exotic Animals at Circuses
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Circuses in California would no longer be allowed to include wild animals under a bill state legislators sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday.
Should Newsom sign Senate Bill 313, circuses in the state will no longer be allowed to use bears, tigers, elephants, monkeys or other wild animals in their acts. Democratic state Sen. Ben Hueso of San Diego said circus animals are often chained and confined to trailers or cramped cages and physically punished with whips and muzzles if they don’t perform.
“Bears, tigers, elephants and other wild animals exploited in traveling acts don’t ride bicycles, jump through hoops or balance on pedestals because they want to,” Hueso said in a statement. “They perform these and other difficult tricks because they’re afraid of what will happen if they don’t.”
Domesticated dogs, cats and horses would still be allowed in circuses, and rodeos aren’t affected by the legislation. If Newsom approves the bill, California will become the third state to have banned wild animals in circuses, following Hawaii and New Jersey, which passed their own bills this year, according to Social Compassion in Legislation, the organization that’s the principal supporter of the bill.
State senators approved the bill on a 35-0 vote Wednesday without debate. Opponents of the measure argued that circus animals are well cared for and that the measure would keep millions of Californians from experiencing traveling circuses.
———
©2019 Los Angeles Times
Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
In The News
Health
Voting
State News
Eighteen members of Congress on Wednesday announced the formation of a new Congressional Caucus whose intent is to ensure that the priorities and concerns of cities and counties across America are heard on Capitol Hill. The bipartisan Congressional Caucus of Former Local Elected Officials was formed... Read More
Thirty-five states are at extreme or high risk of partisan gerrymandering, according to an in-depth report by the nonpartisan RepresentUs organization. The Gerrymandering Threat Index rates all 50 states, and its authors argue their findings underscore the urgent need to pass the redistricting reforms within the... Read More
WASHINGTON - A bipartisan bill to extend the Paycheck Protection Program to May 31 is gaining support in the House and the Senate and will likely be voted on before lawmakers head back to their districts at the end of the month. The proposal to extend... Read More
WASHINGTON - It’s hard to believe it’s almost that time of year again, but on Monday came word that the peak bloom for the cherry blossoms ringing the Tidal Basin in Washington is currently expected to occur April 2-5. That means the most vivid of blooms... Read More
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Josh Venable, a longtime Michigan GOP operative and chief of staff to former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, can trace the arc of the state's Republican Party clearly."This was the state where to be Republican was defined by Gerald Ford and George... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. fought for a year and a half to get access to former President Donald Trump's tax records.Now, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, he will soon have them. But what will that mean for... Read More
