Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – Montgomery County lawmakers are looking to ban circuses with exotic animal performances in the county.
Monday morning the Montgomery County Council’s Public Safety Committee will be reviewing a bill that would ban shows involving exhibits or performances by exotic animals including elephants and chimpanzees.
“Right around the time that we introduced this legislation, a a gentleman was attacked by a camel in Charles County,” said council member George Leventhal, who is a lead sponsor of the bill along with his colleague Craig Rice.
In July, a camel at the Lewis and Clark Circus severely injured its 57-year-old handler.
Leventhal said the proposed legislation was introduced to protect people and exotic animals.
“It isn’t necessary to force creatures to do things that aren’t natural and that they don’t want to do in order for audiences to be entertained. There’s lots of ways that you can have an entertaining circus that don’t involve animal displays,” Evenly said.
Even though there aren’t many shows involving exotic animals held in the county, Leventhal said the council decided to write up the legislation after getting hundreds of emails from residents.
He stressed the proposed legislation would not ban livestock shows, including ones at the Montgomery County Fair.
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