Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to bring wild animals within the scope of the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 once the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 expire in January 2020.

It remains the Government’s intention to introduce legislation banning the use of wild animals in travelling circuses by the time the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 expire in January 2020. Wild animals are already within the scope of the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018. However, there is an exemption from licensing for those animals already subject to a licence under either the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 or the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.