Warning: some will find the above video distressing.
In 2015, an eyewitness visited Suzhou, China—which encompasses more than 300 circuses—to go undercover inside 10 different circuses and animal training facilities. What they documented is eye-opening, heart-wrenching and disturbing.
Behind-the-scenes footage, published today for the first time by PETA, shows bears forced to stand on two legs or face choking, monkeys thrashing in small metal cages, and lions being whipped and beaten to perform tricks. It’s a hard hitting video, and one that highlights the pressing need for a global ban on performing animal use in live shows.
Some 18 countries have already implemented nation-wide stoppages of circuses that use wild animals, but many animal-loving advanced nations have yet to make such a commitment—countries that include the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
For more information about the devastating conditions wild circus animals face, please visit PETA.org or stopcircussuffering.com.