Animal lovers scored a victory with a decision by Windsor City Council.
Council voted Monday night to pass a motion banning circus acts with live animals from performing in the city. Windsor joins London, Kitchener, Toronto, and other Ontario cities with at least a partial ban on the circuses.
Though once extraordinarily popular, changing attitudes and audience tastes are putting the traditional circus industry in decline. More cutting-edge and animal-free alternatives like Cirque du Soleil are now attracting huge audiences.
Resident Steve Palombo, who spoke to council before the vote, says it has more to do with the changing entertainment industry and not just animal rights.
"I have kids and I have a lot of friends with kids and none of them would go to a circus," says Palombo. "Cirque du Soleil is kind of like the big deal nowadays. It's 2017, and this is how things are going. We have to kind of evolve."
In recent years, Windsor has hosted the Shrine Circus and other traditional circus events. A check by BlackburnNewsWindsor.com shows that the last time Windsor hosted a traditional circus event was in 2015 when the Shrine Circus took place at the WFCU Centre. A similar event in 2014 was met with protesters and animal rights groups.
Palombo says he became involved with the issue only recently, and that he was encouraged by Ward 9 Councillor Hilary Payne to speak out on the issue. Payne put forth the motion Monday night.
"Councillor Payne is a pretty big supporter of stopping cruelty in the community," says Palombo. "We kind of discussed it with him and he said it's a good time. Circuses haven't come to town in a while."
The city had passed a bylaw in 2002 attempting to ban exotic animal performances in Windsor, but it was faced with a series of legal challenges, particularly from circus operators who say allowing animals to perform in circuses is freedom of expression protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.