New Massachusetts law bans circuses from using elephants, lions and giraffes

BOSTON (AP) — The use of elephants, lions, giraffes and other animals in traveling shows such as circuses is now banned in Massachusetts after Gov. Maura Healey signed a law banning the practice.

Supporters of the legislation, which Healey signed Friday, said the goal is to help prevent animal abuse.

From January 1, traveling shows such as circuses, carnivals and fairs will be banned from using certain animals, including lions, tigers, bears, elephants, giraffes and primates, for entertainment, according to the law.

Exceptions include animals living in a zoo and the use of animals in filming movies. Non-exotic animals such as horses, chickens, pigs and rabbits can still be exhibited.

“For years, circuses have undermined animal welfare in the name of entertainment, allowing animals to suffer in poor living conditions and stressful environments,” Healey, a Democrat, said in a statement.

The new regulations are in the hands of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. The state’s Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and state and local police officers are authorized to enforce the ban, which carries civil penalties of between $500 and $10,000 per animal.

With the new law, Massachusetts becomes the 11th state to pass restrictions on the use of wild animals in traveling exhibits and shows, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

The use of live animal shows has declined in recent years.

Shows hosted by Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey no longer feature elephants or other live animals. The Topsfield Fair stopped exhibiting elephants after a municipal ban in 2019. King Richard’s Faire, New England’s largest Renaissance festival, ended its exotic cat display in 2020.

Preyel Patel, state director of the Massachusetts Humane Society, said the new law protects animals from enduring abusive training methods, including the use of hooks, whips and electric prods, and from being forced into prolonged confinement and being transported from one city to another.

“This landmark legislation marks the end of an era in which tigers, elephants and other wild animals are forced to perform in deplorable conditions, including being whipped and forced into small cages to travel from show to show across the state,” Patel said.

Advocates also pointed to the 2019 death of Beulah the elephant, owned by a Connecticut zoo. The elephant had been the focus of a lawsuit by the Nonhuman Rights Project, which wanted Beulah and two other elephants moved to a natural habitat sanctuary.

The suit also argued that elephants had “personhood” rights that entitled them to the same liberty rights as humans. In 2019, a three-judge panel of the Connecticut Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision and rejected an appeal by the advocacy group, determining that the group did not have legal standing to bring legal action on behalf of elephants.

Zoo owner Tim Commerford defended the way the zoo cared for the elephants and denied allegations of mistreatment, saying the elephants were like family.