Casey Affleck Exposes Cruelty to Big Cats in Circuses
Fresh from his Golden Globe and BAFTA wins for Manchester by the Sea, Casey Affleck has teamed up with PETA US for a new video calling on people to avoid circuses that use live animals.
He describes how big cats – including lions, who would roam huge areas and live in highly social family groups in the wild – are cruelly forced to perform confusing tricks to amuse crowds. “I choose to work in the entertainment industry, but animals in circuses and other travelling shows are never given a choice”, he says.
For nothing more than human entertainment, big cats in circuses endure miserable lives inside cramped and often filthy cages, being towed from town to town. To force these wild animals to perform meaningless tricks, trainers beat them into submission and sometimes deprive them of food and water before “training” sessions.
Last month, two lions and three tigers used by Thomas Chipperfield were pictured caged on the back of a lorry near the M6 in Cannock, Staffordshire, where they spend most of their days when not touring. To the dismay of all animal-welfare groups, the British Veterinary Association, and the overwhelming majority of the public, wild-animal circuses are still legal in the UK, despite the government’s promise to ban them by 2015.
Please take a moment to call for a ban on these archaic and cruel travelling shows.
