Paris moves to ban wild animals from circuses

While France mulls whether to join a majority of EU nations in banning wild animals in circuses, the capital Paris is pressing ahead with its own plan to outlaw the practice amid fresh concerns over cruelty.

A proposal set to be adopted by the municipal council late Friday will see permits withheld from 2020 for circuses that wish to operate in Paris while employing exotic creatures.

Polls show a vast majority of French people to be against the use of non-domestic animals for entertainment, and dozens of cities and towns have banned travelling circuses featuring wild beasts.

But there is no national ban and the country still has dozens of circuses confining hundreds of animals - roughly 500 according to anti-circus campaigners One Voice, and more than double that according to rights group PETA France.

There are no official statistics.

Most circus animals are lions, but there are also tigers, elephants, two hippos, baboons, macaques, snakes and parrots, camels, bears, ostriches and even zebras.

"The number of animals has decreased drastically due to public pressure," One Voice president Muriel Arnal told AFP.

[attach id=793072 size="large" align="left" type="image"]Animal trainer...