Cantoria Town Council has revoked permission for a circus that had requested to perform in the town on it's way through the Almanzora Valley. A collection of signatures gathered by local youngsters said their petition was because of the involvement of "live animals, taken from their natural habitat and with an economic purpose".
The reaction of the young people has caused the councillors to start drafting an ordinance that will prohibit these shows from now on and, in addition, will articulate a model of youth participation that will establish procedures that comply with the wishes of young people, without coming into conflict with laws such as data protection.
The youth movement of Cantoria, "the first in its history", managed to collect more than 300 signatures with the sole purpose of stopping the circus, in less than 48 hours, which is nothing less than directly contacting 10% of the population", explains the Town Council.
The age of the organizers, all of them under the age of 16, has forced us to take a series of additional measures for the protection of the data collected in a completely spontaneous manner. "I feel proud of the young people of the town, because they have demonstrated a capacity for organization and immediacy that we honestly did not know about," says Puri Sánchez, mayor of the town.
Sánchez explains that "the circus in question has all its papers in order, but if the kids who are its main customers do not want it, obviously we can not move forward. We can only apologize to the people of the circus, but also to the kids themselves for not having articulated before agreeing in a forum that allows them to expose concerns such as these to participate in the construction of the Cantoria they want. You have to explain how to do things, but above all encourage them to never stop doing them."
The youth initiative puts an end to the presence of circuses with animals, even if they have all the permits . "It's something that already happens in many cities and as mayor I can only do what the people ask, and although that part of the town is not yet of voting age, it does not mean that we do not have to listen to them. On the contrary," stresses the mayor.
