(11 Jun 2014) MEXICAN CIRCUS WORKERS PROTEST AGAINST BAN ON ANIMALS
More than a thousand acrobats, clowns and other circus employees marched through downtown Mexico City on Tuesday to protest against a new ban on animals in circuses.
Their protest followed a new law passed the previous day without opposition in the city legislature, which bans the use of animals in circus rings.
Penalties included fines ranging from 45-thousand to 60-thousand US dollars.
Holding signs reading "Mexico wants circuses with animals!" and "Circuses love their animals," ranks of clowns lined up while acrobats performed on truck-drawn trampolines.
Scantily-clad female performers sauntered along in feathered headdresses.
They paraded plastic animal statues on flat-bed trucks to show what the circus would look like without live animals.
Circus performers said the law will leave both many unemployed.
"Each person who is here, each adult, we depend if not 100 percent, at least 80 percent on making a living in a circus with animals," said Frank Brown, one of the artists working at the "Fuerza" Circus.
"This is a tradition of more than 250 years, so what are our families going to do?" Brown wondered.
Protesters said that the animals are treated well and are already regulated by the environment department.
Supporters of the measure however said the relentless training, constant movement in enclosed vehicles and frequent performances hurt the animals.
They argued that circuses, like Canada's Cirque du Soleil, can be successful without animal acts.
The city of nine million followed several other Mexican cities and states in banning circus animal acts.
The measure passed on Monday does not apply to shows with dolphins or bullfighting, nor does it prohibit the use of animals in Mexico's traditional rodeos.
Circuses will be given one year to change their acts.
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