Under the legislation, a wild animal can still legally be taken on tour with a travelling circus and trained for performance in Wales— perhaps, of course, for later exhibition in a country without a ban. Now, this would still subject those animals to many of the issues that compromise welfare and make itinerant circus life so difficult for them. The legislation presently fails to address these realities or the many challenges beyond just performance and exhibition that make travelling circus life a grim reality for the animals, including, of course, transportation and forced training.

This amendment isn't about deprivation of property, it's about preventing welfare problems associated with the transient nature of travelling circuses. Welfare issues connected with the use of wild animals in travelling circuses extend far beyond performance and exhibition, and legislation should deal with the confinement, stressful transportation, forced training and abnormal social groupings that remain a reality for these animals. Rejecting these amendments would mean, of course, that we will still allow wild animals to travel and even train with travelling circuses, and, of course, we'll just therefore be prohibiting their performance or exhibition. 

A big focus of this Bill has been ending the spectacle of wild animals touring in travelling circuses, and for this opportunity to be missed, I believe, would be significant. Now, the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee has already explored how the absence of a complete ban would be unlikely to meet the public's expectations. So, our first amendment would bring Wales closer to more robust bans that we find in places such as the Republic of Ireland, where, of course, the legislation states that a person shall not be allowed to use a wild animal in a circus, and that any reference to a circus includes a reference to any place where animals used in a circus are kept or are trained. 

Coming on to our second amendment, a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses in Wales, I'm sure we'd all agree, is long overdue, but, despite it being on the agenda for many, many years here in Wales, we will, of course, be now the final nation in Great Britain to introduce a ban. Discussions within the Assembly, as it was, go back to at least 2006, with the tabling of a statement of opinion that hoped that the Animal Welfare Act 2006 may empower Wales to act. It took us nine years—in 2015, then—for the Welsh Government to say that it believed that there is no place for the use of wild animals in circuses, but of course we are still waiting. And in England, in the meantime, the Wild Animals in Circuses Act 2019 came into force in January of this year, while in Scotland, of course, a ban has been in force since 2018.

However, as drafted, Wales's proposed ban, of course, won't come into force until 1 December this year, and I know circumstances clearly have conspired to make it unlikely now that we will see any travelling circuses maybe visiting Wales this summer—although who knows, later on in the autumn, potentially, what will happen—but, of course, it would mean then that Wales would still be the only location where a circus performance would, albeit temporarily, remain a legal reality for wild animals. 

Now, I'm impatient for a ban to be implemented, although I do understand that the goalposts have moved since this particular amendment was tabled earlier this year, and I also appreciate, of course, that the second amendment very much depends on the first amendment being passed, but I would urge Members to support both our amendments to this Bill. And just to say as well, Llywydd, I won't be contributing to the debate on the next group of amendments, but Plaid Cymru will be supporting all of the amendments tabled to this Bill today. Diolch.