A ban on circus animals is not necessary but new regulations are needed to ensure their welfare, says agriculture minister Gerda Verburg in a letter to parliament on Monday.

The new rules are to be introduced in 2011.
The minister’s decision is based on research by Wageningen University into the way animals are treated by travelling circuses.
The survey said that in some cases carers did not have sufficient knowledge about how to look after circus animals, especially elephants who sometimes were not given enough room to move.