Colombia Prohibits the use of Circus Animals

A new bill has been approved by Colombia’s Congress today that will ban the future use of animals in circuses.

In order for the law to be enacted, the President, Juan Manuel Santos, and the Constitutional Court have to approve the bill.

Once the law is approved circuses will have two years to get rid of animals from their shows or suffer the legal ramifications in form of fines.

Also, any circus that is caught abusing their animals will have their stock taken away and will face criminal charges.

Colombia is the fourth country in Latin America to prohibit animals in their circuses.

Glossary

Bill: is a noun and is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature.
Ban: is a verb synonymous with the verb prohibit.
Enacted: is the past tense of the verb enact.  To enact means to make a bill an enforceable law.
To get rid of: is a phrasal verb meaning to dispose of something.  It is synonymous with the phrasal verbs throw away, and toss out.
Ramifications: is the plural form of the noun ramification.  A ramification is a consequence, and is typically used with a negative connotation.
Fine: is used as a noun here.  A fine is an amount of money that an entity or a person will have to pay as a penalty for breaking the law.  Example: If you are caught drinking and driving, not only will you have your vehicle taken away, but you’ll also have to pay a hefty fine.
Stock: is a noun and is synonymous with goods or merchandise.  In this case the article is referring to the livestock, the animals owned by the circus.

About the Medellin Buzz

The Medellin Buzz is for English as a Second Language students to practice and learn with.  The Medellin Buzz is written in a way that is easy to understand.  The difficult vocabulary words are in bold, these words are defined in the Glossary.

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