Spain's animal rights bill targets zoos and pet shops but not bullfighting

FILE PHOTO: Sabah, a baby female Bornean orangutan, plays with her mother Surya in their enclosure at the Madrid zoo in Madrid, Spain, April 18, 2018. REUTERS/Paul Hanna/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain plans to ban the sale of pets in shops, convert zoos into wildlife recovery centres and impose prison sentences for abusers as part of its first animal-rights bill, which notably does not target bullfighting, for now.

The government said on Friday the draft law, which will face a public hearing, another reading in the cabinet and a parliamentary vote, would also prohibit wild animals in circuses and the killing of pets except in cases of euthanasia by veterinary surgeons.