End of subsidies for wild animal circuses in Spain

Fantastic news for animal rights activists across Spain who celebrated a huge victory this week as the government has announced that circuses, who use wild animals in their performances, will no longer be entitled to subsidies.

In 2019, the Ministry of Culture, then headed by José Guirao, gave a period of three years for circuses to stop using wild animals in their shows. Otherwise, he announced that they would not be able to access subsidies through the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM). 

According to InfoCircus they consider the change to be a huge victory even though Spanish circuses containing wild animals performing in other countries will be allowed to continue for another year.

They estimate that subsidies could range from 10,000€ up to 40,000€ per year, per circus, although recently “a gradual decrease in aid granted to circuses with animals has been observed in line with the conversion process that circuses themselves undertook towards shows without animals”.

There are three Spanish circuses that continue to use wild animals in their shows, but the new rules mean that the organisers will have to comply with the regulations laid down by each region of Spain they perform in.

“Even the ones which still use them have an alternative performance program without animals to perform in those municipalities and regions where the presence of wild animals is no longer authorised” the group concluded.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.