Jain Spirit 2004 06 No 19

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 10

08 JAIN NEWS
Shilpa Shetty Stars in Sultry New Anti-Cruelty Ad
Bollywood Beauty Shows Her Stripes in Plea For AnimalCircus Boycott, Mumbai
and
Beaten,
_lonely and ABused!
Film sensation Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood superstar of the recent box-office hit Dhadkan, is the latest top celebrity to speak out against cruelty to animals by posing for an ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India. The brand-new ad shows Shilpa dressed in a bodysuit and preparing to leap through a ring of fire, with the tagline ‘Beaten, Lonely and Abused - Boycott the Circus'. Shilpa's "tiger look' was designed by renowned make-up artist Cory Walia.
Why is Shilpa roaring mad about the circus? Despite the glittering image projected by circus advertising, the performing animals' lives are miserable. It is not only unnatural but also very frightening for animals to be forced to ride bicycles, stand on their heads and jump through rings of fire.
homelands of India and Africa, free-roaming elephants enjoy the same life expectancy as human beings, but in the circus, most elephants die prematurely of disease and stress caused by confinement and lack of natural social contact, among many other abuses.
"Circuses are no fun for wild animals who are caged, beaten and deprived of all that is natural to them," says Shilpa. "The best advice for children and parents who
want to help animals is BOYCOTT THE CIRCUS
simply to boycott circuses that use animals."
As more people become Shilpa Shetty for PETA www.PETAIndia.com
aware of the cruelty involved
in forcing animals to If they weren't constantly menaced perform, circuses that use animals are and assaulted with whips, electric losing their audiences to animal-free prods and other tools designed to circuses such as Cirque du Soleil and inflict pain, animals would never
the Imperial Circus of China. Animal perform these stunts. Often, animals in acts have already been restricted or circuses also suffer severely limited banned in Sweden, Finland, Costa access to such basic requirements as Rica and Singapore. PETA water, food and veterinary care. encourages governments to ban
Tigers and lions are meant to roam exotic-animal acts and asks consumers free, but in circuses they are confined to boycott circuses that use - and in steel cages hardly big enough to abuse - animals. contain them. Early in their training, Jain communities, in India and according to Henry Ringling North's around the world (including the UK), book The Circus Kings, big cats are have played an important role in "chained to their pedestals, and ropes opposing all forms of cruelty to are put around their necks to choke animals. Circuses are considered by them down." Bears may suffer broken Jains to be exploitative and coercive of noses during training, as well as
animals and therefore a form of himsa. burned paws if they try to resist standing on their hind legs. The
For more information, please visit famous elephant, Dumbo, spent 20 PETA India.com or in the UK contact years in ‘martingales' chains that ran Poorva Joshipura. from his tusks to his feet. In their Email: poorval @petauk.org