COLCHESTER’S MP will bid to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.

Conservative Will Quince is due to deliver a Private Members Bill in Parliament today to persuade the Government to create a law against the practice.

In his speech, he will insist easier foreign travel, wildlife documentaries and zoos give people better opportunities to see exotic animals in their natural habitat.

He will also praise Colchester Zoo on its “world class” conditions and insist the UK should follow Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands with a ban on using wild animals for “tricks and stunts”.

Following his speech, the House will decide whether or not Mr Quince’s Bill goes on to be drafted as a new law.

He said: “In the past two centuries, wild animals were an essential part of the circus experience.

“For many people, particularly those who could not afford foreign holidays, circuses were the only opportunity people had to see these wild and exotic animals.

“We know that is not now the case.”

He added: “Our zoos do fantastic work caring for the animals and providing them with different types of enrichment in order to occupy their time and promote natural behaviours.

“Wild animals that have been used and kept in travelling circuses have the same genetic make-up as their counterparts in zoos or in the wild.

“Using such animals to perform tricks and stunts hardly encourages people to respect the animals’ innate wild nature and value.”

Mr Quince hopes to gain a lot of support since manisfestos from the Conservatives, Labour, the Democratic Unionist Party and the Scottish National Party all include calls for a ban.

He said: “It’s one of those rare moments we appear to have a degree of consensus among all parties.

“Wild animals were once an integral part of the circus experience. This is no longer the case.

“The use of wild animals in travelling circuses can no longer be justified.”

It is already illegal for any licensed circus animal not to have a retirement plan in place.