Jawaharlal Nehru Public Schoolchildren to Join ‘Elephant’, ‘Horse’, and ‘Dog’ in Urging the Public to Say No to Animal Circuses with PETA India and Other NGOs
For Immediate Release:
12 November 2025
Contact:
Apeksha Tamane; [email protected]
Anushka Yadav; [email protected]
Bhopal – Ahead of Children’s Day (14 November), in collaboration with Animals with Humanity (AWH), Pawpeople NGOs and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India), children from Jawaharlal Nehru Public school will wear animal masks and hold signs that read, “Ban Animal Circuses” and “Make Animals Happy, Say No to Animal Circuses”, as they join persons wearing horse, elephant, and dog costumes in a demonstration for animals in Bhopal. They aim to show their support for PETA India’s request that the central government’s Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying end the use of animals in circuses and to spread awareness that animals suffer when forced to perform.
Where: Boat Club, Shyamala Hills, Bhopal
When: Thursday, 13 November 2025, 12:00 noon sharp
“These children know that chaining and beating animals is wrong,” says PETA India Campaigns Coordinator Apeksha Tamane. “That’s why they are here to let the public know animals suffer in circuses and to urge everyone to choose only animal-free forms of entertainment.”
Chetna Jaroliya, Principal of Jawaharlal Nehru Public School, says, “Our school is committed to teaching students about kindness toward animals, because we know kind kids grow into responsible adults.”
Inspections by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) and investigations into circuses by PETA India have revealed that animals used in circuses are subjected to chronic confinement, physical abuse, and psychological torment. Workers use whips and other weapons to inflict pain on them, forcing them to perform frightening tricks, including jumping through rings of fire, out of fear of violent punishment. Even when they aren’t performing, these animals endure a lifetime of misery. Their access to water, food, and veterinary care is often severely restricted. Dogs may be crammed into wire cages and rarely let out. Birds are often confined to small, filthy cages, and their wings are crudely clipped so that they cannot fly. Horses are typically kept tethered on short ropes.
Two regulatory bodies, the AWBI and the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), have recognised that animal circuses are inherently cruel and that the use of animals in circuses in India should be prohibited. The AWBI previously advised the central government to pass legislation prohibiting the use of animals in circuses nationwide due to animal welfare concerns, and the CZA wrote in support of prohibiting the use of elephants in circuses for the same reason. The CZA’s purview covers wild animals protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. In 2018, the central government issued a draft notification proposing to prohibit the use of all animals in circuses across India; however, the amendment to the rules has yet to be passed. Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, and Malta have banned the use of all animals in circuses. PETA India calls on India to follow suit.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
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