by the El Reportero’s news services
Actress Kate del Castillo is calling on Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera to sign legislation passed by the Federal District Legislative Assembly that would ban the use of animals in circuses.
The Assembly voted 41-0, with 11 abstentions, on June 9 to approve the Law on the Staging of Public Shows, which “prohibits the use of live wild or domestic animals during the staging of circus performances.”
The actress is backing the efforts of Peta Latino, one of the groups that lobbied for the legislation, to ban the use of animals in circuses on the grounds that elephants, lions, camels, bears, tigers and other animals are abused by trainers.
There is sufficient evidence that animals are often “beaten to force them to perform painful tricks” in circus acts, Del Castillo said.
The legislation would take effect one year after its publication in the Federal District Gazette, giving circuses time to develop new acts and find homes for the animals.
Some circus owners may put their animals up for adoption, Federal District lawmaker Jesús Sesma, a Mexican Green Party, or PVEM, member and one of the law’s main backers, told Efe.
The law prohibits circuses from presenting, selling or using live animals as lottery prizes or in games, as well as using animals “for the taking of photographs or any other related activity.”
The ban applies only to circuses and will not affect dolphin shows, theater companies, bullfights and other kinds of animal shows.
Violators will be subject to seizure of their animals and fines of more than 700,000 pesos ($53,722).
Mexico City is on its way to becoming the seventh entity in the federation to ban the use of animals in circuses, joining Colima, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos and Queretaro states.
Similar legislation has been proposed in the states of Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tamaulipas and Quintana Roo.
Larry Hernandez Asks for “Divine Protection” During Tour in Mexico
Singer Larry Hernández expressed concern about the violence so prevalent in his native Mexico and asks for divine protection during his upcoming concert tour south of the border.
“What’s happening in Mexico is very ugly and there’s nothing else I can do but commend myself to God and continue with my schedule of concerts in a number of Mexican states,” he said in an interview with Efe as the third season was beginning of “Larrymania,” the reality show about his life.
Hernández, who has reported receiving death threats on social networks, is one of the many singers of regional Mexican music who have put their lives in danger by singing ballads about drug kingpins, known as “narcocorridos.”
Another popular singer of regional Mexican music, Gerardo Ortiz, was also threatened with death if he should sing at a May 24 concert in Tijuana a pair of songs inspired by the drug lord of the Sinaloa cartel.
