PETA and SCIL Celebrate the Progress of California’s Animal Circus Ban

For Immediate Release:
April 9, 2019

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Below, please find a statement from PETA Foundation Vice President Delcianna Winders regarding Senate Bill 313, the Circus Cruelty Prevention Act, approved 7-0 today by the California Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee:

California is poised to make history. PETA has supported this progressive bill every step of the way, and we look forward to seeing it signed into law so that tigers, lions, camels, and many other animals will no longer be whipped, beaten, or caged in circuses in the Golden State.

Please also find a statement from Social Compassion in Legislation (SCIL) founder and President Judie Mancuso:

Polling shows that the majority of Californians support banning animals in circuses. This growing public disdain for archaic animal circuses and the dangerous incidents involving animals in circuses are why so many jurisdictions around the world are banning these types of performances.

PETA—which opposes speciesism (a supremacist view of the world) and whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—and SCIL, a vanguard voice sponsoring landmark legislation for animals, are sponsors of S.B. 313, having helped with much of the research, legislative language, and expert testimonies, as well as generating support from other organizations. PETA has also garnered support from celebrities, including Lily Tomlin, who recently sent a letter urging California legislators to support the Circus Cruelty Prevention Act, and Lucy Davis, Joaquin Phoenix, and numerous other stars, who attended PETA’s news conference in support of the bill.

More information about circuses that use animals is available here.