NO matter how well animals are cared for in a circus, it is still unacceptable in a civilised society to be using animals for entertainment. There is no educational value in seeing animals reduced to performing tricks in an unnatural environment.

Nothing can be learnt from seeing an animal jumping through a hoop or a horse walking backwards on its hind legs.

Circuses show a lack of respect for animals.

Animals are not stimulated by performing. A travelling circus, by its very nature, cannot come close to meeting the complex physical, social and psychological needs of the animals it holds captive.

Zebras, for example, belong to the plains of Africa, not in a circus tent in Bolton!

D Collins Bolton