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After nearly two decades of campaigning by PETA India to put an end to the use of all animals in circuses, draft rules were issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 28 November proposing to ban the use of elephants, horses, and all other animals in circuses across the country. The Ministry had sought comments on the draft rules and is now in the final stages of notifying them. Please help us get a ban passed by taking action today.
Inspections of Indian circuses by the government body the Animal Welfare Board of India and PETA India have time and again revealed that the animals used in them are subjected to chronic confinement, physical abuse, and psychological torment. Whips and other weapons, including ankuses – heavy, sharp steel-tipped rods – are used to inflict pain on animals and beat them into submission. Animals are forced to perform frightening, confusing tricks, such as jumping through rings of fire, not because they want to but out of fear of violent punishment.
Even when they aren't performing, animals used in circuses endure a lifetime of misery. Their access to water, food, and veterinary care is often severely restricted. Dogs are routinely crammed into wire cages and rarely let out. Birds are confined to tiny, filthy cages, and their wings may be crudely clipped so that they can't fly. Horses are typically kept tethered on short ropes, and elephants are shackled by their legs when not in use.