Animal circuses will no longer be welcome on property owned by the City of St. Catharines.

Councillors backed a motion by St. Patrick's Coun. Karrie Porter Monday night to ban circus performances in which an animal is required to perform for the amusement or entertainment of an audience at any city-owned facility or property.

"Concerns for the animals in travelling circuses have been widespread and abuse has been documented for decades, with many high-profile abuse cases coming to light over that time," Porter said.

"For the entertainment of humans, these animals face many instances of cruelty and they live lives of diminished quality."

She said that includes mobility restrictions due to the frequency of being tethered and confined to small cages as the animals have to travel from one city to next. She said they're also subject to extreme weather conditions in their confinement and there are documented cases of elephants and bears dying due to heat.

Some have claws and teeth extracted and become despondent and depressed, she said.

Porter said animal circuses have been banned in over three dozen municipalities across Canada from Cape Breton Regional Municipality, N.S., to Victoria and Nanaimo, B.C., along with 21 countries in Europe and 12 in Central and South America.

Some municipalities have changed their bylaws to ban all animal circuses within the boundaries of their municipalities.

Porter said she hopes St. Catharines can take a look at its animal bylaws in the near future and see which ones need to be brought up to modern standards. She said some haven't been updated since 1995 or 2005.

Her motion originally called for a prohibition on "performances or circuses" in which an animal is required to perform, but St. George's Coun. Kevin Townsend asked that the wording be more specific.

He was concerned the ban would apply to Niagara Regional Police canine unit demonstrations.

His amendment to change the motion to "circus performances" was accepted as friendly by Porter.

Council's approval of the motion was almost unanimous, with Merritton Coun. Lori Littleton abstaining. She wanted to refer the motion to staff for a report with facts and comment from agencies such as the SPCA, along with details such as whether pony rides will still be allowed at events.

Mayor Walter Sendzik said the intent is to ban circuses now and update animals bylaws later.

"It won't affect the pony ride at Tabor Manor. It won't affect the pony ride at the Canada Day celebrations," he said. "Right now it's just performances of circuses that include animals."

As part of the motion, the new animal circus policy will be included in any lease agreements of all municipally-operated facilities.

Porter told council St. Catharines is a compassionate city and compassion should extend to both humans and animals.

Since the motion came to light in the past couple of days, she said there have been 100 emails in favour of the ban.

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Karena.Walter@niagaradailies.com

905-225-1628 | @karena_standard