By 2018 the government will establish timelines and procedures, but for animal rights activists it is a step backwards: there is no precise date for the ban to take effect.
In the future, Italian circuses will no longer be allowed to use animals in their performances. Just how near or far that future is, however, remains to be seen: the new entertainment code definitively approved by the Chamber of Deputies includes an amendment providing for, "for circus and travelling show activities", the "gradual phasing out of the use of animals". The next step will be government action: by 2018, a dedicated measure must specify the timelines and procedures for this "phasing out".
Yet for now, the measure brings more smiles to circus owners than to animal rights activists: an earlier draft of the amendment that was ultimately approved had in fact set a clear time limit of a maximum of three years within which the ban on using animals in shows was to be implemented. According to the Ente nazionale protezione animali, "we had the opportunity to make a small revolution, a great civilised choice, by banning the exploitation of animals in circuses. But talking about 'gradual phasing out' means nothing. And yet the vast majority of Italians—71 per cent according to Eurispes—no longer want animals in circuses". All this while the president of the Ente nazionale circhi, Antonio Buccioni, is practically celebrating: "The Senate has buried the principle of eliminating animals from circuses in favour of a gradual phasing out, a circumstance that lends itself to a reassessment within the framework of what is to be hoped will be a thorough socio-cultural debate".
