AN ANIMAL welfare group has appealed to Ruthin residents to boycott one of the last remaining circuses in the UK that uses wild animals in its shows.

Peter Jolly’s Circus will be in Ruthin from tomorrow until Sunday.

The circus’s performance in Corwen last week was met with opposition from a group of independent protestors wanting to put a stop to the use of animals in wild shows.

Animal Defenders International, a campaigning group for animal welfare, is calling on residents to avoid Peter Jolly’s Circus whilst it performs in Ruthin.

Angie Greenway, executive director for ADI, said: “All that circuses with wild animals teach us is how not to treat and keep animals. They have no role to play in education or conservation and no place in modern society.

"Twenty years ago there were around 17 circuses with nearly 100 wild animals including more than a dozen elephants; today there are just two with around 20 wild animals. In contrast, the number of animal-free circuses has risen.

“This reflects the situation around the world. Changing attitudes have seen more and more countries turning their backs on circus suffering.”

Over 40 countries around the world, including most of Europe, have introduced prohibitions on animals in circuses to date. In the UK, Scotland became the first to pass a ban on animal acts in 2017.

The issue is currently under discussion in England and Wales, however it is still allowed by authorities.

Peter Jolly, proprietor of Peter Jolly’s Circus, said: “The circus is licenced by the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

“We are inspected three times a year by the department and they look at where the animals live, what they do in the circus, their diet and how they are transported.

“We have passed all these inspections with flying colours.”