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Elephants perform last year at the Garden Brothers Circus.

(File photo)

Jersey City and Bergen County already have laws on the books prohibiting traveling shows and circuses that exhibit wild or exotic animals.

Now, Hudson County wants to follow suit.

Edgar Martinez, spokesman for the Hudson County Board of Freeholders, said that long-term training, performance and confinement can have negative effects on the physical and psychological health of animals.

He added that it's believed that circus animals spend, on the average, 10 percent of their lives performing and the rest of the time they may be confined in small cages or shackled and that the county wants to protect them from cruel and inhumane treatment, and to protect the public from erratic behavior from the animals because of their treatment.

Saturday's results: