Shilpa Shetty says “Life of the animals cannot be imagined in the ring of the circus. Each day they have to perform some or other duty which is very unnatural to them. They have to leave only in cages which are in the size of their own bodies.”
Most of the people applaud when an 8,000-pound elephant stands on one leg and a tiger jumps through a fire ring. But very few think that how can these animals manage to perform such an unnatural tricks. Despite of attractive images projected by circus advertising, animals performing live show are very miserable. Animal never choose their time to be spent in such a pathetic manner. Making the use of fear, pain and hunger as a tool the handlers make them do what they never wanted to do so. They also make use of physical tool such as whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks are reminders that these animals are being forced to perform. When they do not perform they are confined to cages. They never get a proper veterinary care when they are sick.
By seeing all this cruelty towards animals in the ring of circus, Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty decided to do an ad campaign for PETA. The ad, which shows Shilpa dressed in a body-hugging tiger-striped bodysuit 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, a lawsuit was filed by PETA against the Empire Circus where 10 tigers and 9 lions were confiscated from the circus in Mumbai and were placed in the rescue centre in Jaipur. Today these lions have lots of land to walk around, where they can stretch their legs and live a peaceful life than what they suffered in circus. Where they were released from the cages only for performing tricks.
PETA documented many shocking case of cruelty at the Empire Circus like elephant shackled by three legs, dogs kept in tiny cages, horses tied with short ropes and cockatoos confined o cages without a perch, forcing them to hold onto the sides and many more other things.
Leave a Reply