APHIS wants to shorten leash on circus animals

Washington

-- Uncle Sam's animal inspectors hope a proposed new rule under the Animal Welfare Act will make it easier to conduct unannounced inspections at circuses, mobile petting zoos and other animal acts.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is proposing a change that would require exhibitors to submit their itineraries, making it easier for inspectors to perform unannounced inspections and ensuring compliance with animal-welfare laws.

A policy already in place asks for itineraries from the more than 200 traveling exhibitors with regulated animals. But some of them fail to file itineraries consistently or quickly, APHIS says.

Under the proposal, exhibitors would need to submit the dates and locations of travel as well as addresses for any stops and layovers. They also would need to submit identifying information for animals that would be exhibited outside their designated primary facilities, with description and species information and the names of owners, exhibitors and transporters.