Cruel spectacle

The use of exotic animals to perform in circuses is a barbaric practice and ought to have been banned long ago. We wish the RSPCA and others every success in lobbying MPs to modify the draft animal welfare bill to make it illegal. When one considers that elephants sometimes travel 40km a day in the wild, the cruelty of keeping them chained up for long period and transported across the country in cramped conditions becomes all too clear. The same is true for lions and tigers. Unlike zoos, circuses do not even have the excuse of providing an educational insight into their animals. This is one form of entertainment that we can happily live without.