The Circus Animal Rights Coalition would like to express its support for the circular issued by the Director General, Directorate for Educational Services, instructing schools not to visit the circus during school time.

Such activities involving the exploitation of animals cannot be educational but rather give a distorted image of the nature of these animals and man’s relationship with them. The coalition calls upon the DG to further strengthen the stand taken on animal cruelty by doing the same for the local daily shows using animals at the local dolphinarium.

Using animals, captive bred or not, for entertainment and profit-making purposes goes against the notion of values being taught to children on a nationwide basis and conflicts clearly with all the animal awareness programmes which have been developed over the years by the education sectors and NGOs.

The coalition asks the public to make an informed decision before visiting any activity involving animals and to think about all the difficulties these animals must face during transportation, training and the performances themselves.

3 reasons why an animal circus may not be a good idea for children:

1. Animal cruelty – Animals used in circuses do not perform because they want to; they perform because they are afraid not to. Forcing an animal to perform is intrinsically cruel. The cruelty can also be physical – even if not witnessed directly during a performance you never know what goes on behind the scenes and during transport.

2. Risk to children – animals are unpredicteable: despite years of training there is always the risk that under stressful conditions as in a circus or dolphianrium they become aggressive. A recent case on international news this week was witnessed in Kyrgyzstan where an ice-skating bear attacked and killed a circus director during rehearsals. Not to mention the health risks posed when being an enclosed area with animals who have been roaming around the world.

3. Psychological impact – Child psychologists warn that watching animals being hit, prodded, injured, and humiliated for entertainment desensitizes children to the suffering of others.

Anyone wishing to help in the campaign can sign the Coalition petition:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/animalslavery/ and join our facebook group : http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=152447782391&ref=ts

Teachers: Teachers interested in an email lesson plan on animal awareness can contact Nature Trust (Malta) – a member of the coaliton – on ntsec@naturetrustmalta.org

Other usful links for teachers/parents: http://www.circuses.com/pdfs/circus_booklet.pdf and www.cetfree.org

CIRCUS ANIMAL RIGHTS COALITION MEMBERS: Moviment Graffitti, Animal Rights Group, Ananda Marga, Association for Abandoned Animals, Island Sanctuary, CETFREE, Greenhouse, Alternattiva Demokratika ZaghZagh, SOS Animals, St. Francis D’Assisi Foundation, Nature Trust (Malta), SPCA (Malta), Centru Tbexbix, Stray Animal Support Group, Street Cat Rescue, Share Malta, Noah’s Arc, National Cat Society, International Animal Rescue, World Animal Conscience