'I cannot even begin to imagine what life must be like for these circus animals. These animals only leave their cages, which are barely the size of their own bodies, for a few minutes each day to go into a ring and perform tricks that are unnatural to them.'
- Shilpa Shetty
While most people gape and applaud when an 8,000-pound elephant stands on one leg or a tiger jumps through a ring of fire, very few pause to think how exactly these animal 'stars' perform such unnatural acts.
Despite the glittering image projected by circus advertising, performing animals' lives are very miserable. Unlike human artistes, animals do not choose to spend their time in this way. Their handlers make them do what they would never normally do through the use of fear, pain and hunger. Whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks and other tools used during circus acts are reminders that these animals are being forced to perform. When animals are not performing, they are confined to cages barely larger than their own bodies. When they become ill, they rarely receive proper veterinary care.
Shocked at this cruelty, Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty immediately volunteered to do an ad campaign for PETA. The ad, which shows Shilpa dressed in a body-hugging tiger-striped bodysuit (her make-up compliments of glamour make-up artist Cory Walia) about to leap through a ring of fire, with the tagline 'Beaten, Lonely and Abused-Boycott the Circus', has been released in 10 languages nationally and internationally.
The release of this ad also marks the anniversary of one of PETA's landmark victories. On 10th March 2003, resulting from a lawsuit filed by PETA against the Empire Circus, 10 tigers and nine lions were confiscated from the circus in Mumbai and placed at a rescue centre in Jaipur. Today, the lions have lots of land to explore, where they can stretch their legs and live a peaceful life, a far cry from their agonising years at the circus, where the only 'relief' from their cages involved performing tricks under the constant threat of punishment with a whip.
At the Empire Circus, PETA had documented many shocking cases of cruelty - elephants shackled by three legs, dogs kept in tiny cages, horses tied with short ropes and cockatoos confined to cages without a perch, forcing them to hold onto the sides. Senior Bombay Veterinary College doctors, led by Dr Bakshi, checked the conditions of these animals and found many animals in a bad way. The dogs had corneal ulcers, the elephants had raw, bleeding legs and the birds had overgrown beaks, amongst other medical ailments. One lion died in November 2002 when the circus did not provide him with timely veterinary care.
B 1 03-09-04
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These rescued animals are now leading a happy life, thanks to PETA. And you, too, can help animals!
Circuses are no fun for animals; they are caged, beaten and deprived of all that is natural to them. To learn more about the cruelty under the big top, click here.
The best way to help animals in the circus is to boycott circuses that use animals and get everyone you know to do the same. If the circus comes to your town, call PETA for tips.
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