Animal NGOs and activists have voiced their “serious concerns” that circus acts will be legal again as from Monday.

Changes to the Animal Welfare Act will come into effect on Monday. Whilst there are positive changes coming into effect on Monday, these changes also include a few that are of serious concern to animal NGOs and activists.

In a joint statement, they said that unfortunately these changes were “pushed through Parliament” without the animal NGOs and activists being consulted, and neither was any public consultation done.

“It is a pity that changes to the Animal Welfare Act were bulldozed through Parliament without dialogue,” they said.

They pointed out that this was a missed opportunity by the government for dialogue with animal NGOs and activists.

From a situation whereby “animals had full and complete protection against circuses,” the changes coming into effect on Monday “will essentially allow circus acts to be legal again under a Labour government.,” the animal NGOs and activists said.

“This is effectively turning the clock backwards rather than being a step forward in animal protection as should happen.”

“Although we were not consulted, Animal Liberation Malta, Moviment Graffitti, Real Animal Rights Foundation, Vuci ghall-Annimali, Association for Abandoned Animals, Kitty Gardens for Strays and some animal activists came up with a list of proposals to limit the damage that will come into effect with these changes,” they said.

They added that these proposals were sent to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Welfare and are in the form of guidelines that would be issued on the 20th itself.

Given that the “badly written changes” will now allow “to the use of animals as props or extras in artistic, theatrical, or cinematic performances, sporting competitions” – “our proposals for guidelines clearly split events into two categories.”

The animal NGOs and activists explained that one group like dog shows, would have automatic permits, and all others events that fall under these wide definitions would require an approved permit from the Director VRD.

“Additionally, our proposal most importantly includes the concept of appeal, rather than allowing all the powers invested solely at the discretion of the Director VRD,” they said.

“This is a key aspect of the proposal, which gives NGOs and individuals the right to appeal a permit issued by the Director VRD on the grounds that it goes against the AW Act. Appeals would be lodged to the Commissioner of Animal Welfare.”

The joint statement was signed by – Animal Liberation Malta, Moviment Graffitti, Real Animal Rights Foundation, Vuci ghall-Annimali, Association for Abandoned Animals and Kitty Gardens for Strays.

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