A starving pony set on fire and left to die while tethered by the roadside in Northern Ireland could survive, it was revealed tonight.

The Government’s used a non-existent court challenge as an excuse for blocking a ban on wild animal in circuses, it was claimed today.

A gallivanting gecko has turned up safe and well after hitching a 100-mile ride inside an envelope following an internet shopping mix-up.

Almost 20,000 have signed The Independent’s online petition calling for a ban on wild animals in circuses.

At any one time the British Veterinary Association (BVA) is dealing with many serious animal welfare issues. Slaughter without stunning, genetic problems in dogs, lameness in cattle, to mention just a few. All of which cause suffering in thousands, if not millions, of individual animals.

The Government's failure to ban wild animals in circuses has been criticised by a former expert adviser to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

A campaign by animal lovers on Twitter has led to thousands of people signing The Independent’s online petition calling for a ban on tigers and lions in circuses.

A young woman with swine flu who was put in a coma to save her unborn child has died.

An overwhelming majority of the public backs a ban on wild animals performing in circuses. A total of 71 per cent favour a ban, with 21 per cent opposed and 7 per cent saying they don't know, according to an opinion poll commissioned by The Independent.

Four days after its launch more than 10,000 people have signed the Independent’s petition calling on the Government to ban circuses from using wild animals.

Government ministers are to be put under pressure in Parliament this week over their failure to bring forward plans to ban wild animals performing in circuses.

Virginia McKenna, the actress who played the conservationist Joy Adamson in the film ‘Born Free’, has given her backing to The Independent’s campaign to ban wild animals from circuses.

Circuses represent an important traditional form of entertainment and culture but the days when it was acceptable to haul wild animals around in beastwagons to be gawped at and to entertain with unnatural tricks are long gone. Society has moved on, as has our understanding of what animals need.