BOSTON - After two decades of protesting, and advocating outside of fairs and carnivals, one Western Massachusetts animal advocate says she can’t believe the day is finally here. 

Gov. Maura Healey has signed into law a bill banning some animals from travelling entertainment acts. 

“We were elated,” said Sheryl Becker, the president of Western Mass. Animal Rights Advocates. “It was like a dream come true. We've been working on that bill for over 20 years. Twenty-two years we've been working on that bill. And, so it was just, utter joy that we were feeling.”

The bill signed by the governor bans several kinds of animals from preforming in a traveling circus including elephants, big cats, primates, giraffes and bears. 

Much of the reason Sheryl Becker believes that this bill was able to pass this session, was because of the death of an elephant at the Big E in 2019. The outrage from the incident travelled worldwide. And brought awareness to the group’s fight for animals.  

“Unfortunately, something like that had to happen,” said Becker. “I think we could have gotten it passed without Beulah’s (the elephant) death, but it would have taken longer.”

The law would take into effect the first of the year. State and local law enforcement can penalize those in violation up to $10,000 per animal. 

The Big E responded to this story with a statement that read in part:

“The Eastern States Exposition affords large numbers of people the opportunity to see and interact with innumerable types of animals, from production livestock to endangered species. They help people to understand how to care for these animals, and in the case of the general public, they introduce untold thousands of people, young and old, to the joyous experience of seeing, touching and smelling these tremendous creations. This opportunity is indeed rare and should be preserved.”