Topic: Stop the Use of All Animals in Circuses

[Derek]

The Great British Circus will be touring the UK in 2009 with the first new elephants to appear in a circus in more than 10 years. Three elephants, two from India named Delhi and Vana Mana and one from Africa called Sonja, will be performing up to twice a day for the tour duration, which will last eight months.

Animals in circuses are dying so that people can be entertained. Animals don't want to ride bicycles, stand on their heads, balance on balls or jump through rings of fire, but they have no choice. Trainers often use any means necessary – including beatings – to coerce animals into performing these unnatural acts. Animals used in circuses have usually been taken from the wild, where they once roamed free, or they were bred in captivity so that they could live a life of isolation and punishment.

Elephants are not the only animals made to perform in circuses in the UK. Tigers, lions and other big cats make up the 50 or so animals currently in captivity behind the big top's closed doors.

Take Action Now
Please  write to DEFRA minister Jane Kennedy MP and call for an end to the use of animals in circuses.