Michael Sheen Joins the Call to Ban Animals in Circuses

Posted by on July 11, 2015 | Permalink

Michael Seen©starmaxinc.com
BAFTA Award–winning actor Michael Sheen is the latest to call for the abolishment of cruel and archaic wild-animal circuses. The star of Masters of Sex and The Queen is echoing the calls from the 94 per cent of respondents to a government consultation who supported a complete ban on the use of wild animals in circuses.

The actor penned a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to do the right thing for animals by fulfilling the promise he made to introduce a ban.

In the letter, Michael writes:

The British public clearly agree and have made their feelings on this issue clear. There is no longer any excuse for delaying the ban.

Wild animals do not voluntarily ride bicycles, stand on their heads or jump through rings of fire. To force animals to perform these meaningless and often uncomfortable or painful tricks, trainers use whips, muzzles, bullhooks and electric prods.

Coming from a family with a history of circus performance, which includes his great-grandmother, who was a lion tamer, Michael knows all too well about the reality of the circus. He writes:

The true spirit of the circus is best illustrated by thrilling performances by human entertainers – like clowns and trapeze artists – not by wild animals whose spirits have been broken and who are forced to perform under duress. As someone who comes from a family that has included circus performers, I would like to see us become a country where animals are treated with respect, not as objects of ridicule.

Join Michael and thousands of others by taking action. Write to David Cameron and tell him that forcing wild animals to perform absurd tricks by using cruel and barbaric training methods is an archaic practice that has no place in modern Britain.