Exactly three years ago today, a terrible road accident with a circus trailer carrying five circus elephants took place in Spain, leaving one elephant dead and two severely injured. For all these years, the remaining four elephants continued to be hauled across Europe. At the end of 2020, another one of the elephants died from poor health. Two weeks later, the three remaining circus elephants were back on the road again.

A lot has changed in the past three years, with more EU member states passing national bans or further restrictions on the use of wild animals in circuses, but the show is not yet over. The physical and emotional suffering that wild circus animal silently endure, and the public security risks that their use poses to EU citizens, sadly continues to this day. Hundreds of circuses are still touring across Europe, hauling thousands of wild animals to their next performance. In the past 24 years, 478 public safety incidents have been reported, involving 889 wild circus animals. The time has come for the EU to end this cruel, dangerous and unnecessary practice for once and for all. Together with our European animal welfare partners, we have launched the EU Stop Circus Suffering Campaign, urging the EU institutions to finally adopt an EU-wide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses. The overwhelming support from EU citizens who have already added their voice to this call by signing this petition is a clear demand on the EU to act. Will you help us reach 1 million signatures? Together, we can end circus suffering. Please sign and share this petition.