The Argus (April 1) is right to suggest that members of the public concerned about the use of ponies by Giffords Circus in its traditional Thirties circus during the May festival should complain to Brighton and Hove City Council rather than the circus.
The complaint should be that the council's decision to ban only wild animals performing in circuses is wrong. A licence should be denied to all circuses using any animals to perform.
Whether an animal is wild or not, the principle remains the same. No animal should be forced to perform degrading and humiliating tricks, day in and day out.
Animals can acquire deformities through the unnatural repetition of daily routines.
"Lucky" former circus horses and ponies that have suffered from insufficient exercise and poor diet and housing, concomitant with a peripatetic lifestyle, end up being cared for by sanctuaries such as the Sussex Horse Rescue Trust.
-David Hammond, North Court, Hassocks
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