(6 Mar 2015) Mexican circus owners said a government ban on using animals in circus acts has forced many to go out of business, without any indication of what will happen to the animals.
In Tizayuca, in the Mexican state of Hidalgo - about one hour from Mexico City - tigers, zebras, dromedaries and horses wander through the grounds of a small plot of land.
Legislation approved last year by the Mexican Congress requires circuses to submit lists of the wildlife they own, which would then be made available to zoos interested in taking the animals.
However, Armando Cedeno Alvarez, the president of the Mexican Union of Circus Businessmen and Artists, said authorities still haven't contacted them about the fate of their animals.
Cedeno Alvarez claims that the legislation and the campaign to promote it has dramatically decreased the number of visitors to circuses.
Seventy circuses have gone out of business across the country, he said.
Congressman Ruben Escamilla of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) is pushing for more clarity on what will happen to the circus animals, saying that the process to retrieve them is not reaching every circus.
The closure of many circuses is also impacting workers such as trapeze artist Jaime Castillo, who lost his job, but refused to leave the industry.
Animal rights activists hailed the Mexican ban on circus animals, saying it will combat their mistreatment following a string of high-profile cases of animal abuse in Mexican circuses.
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