We would like to thanks The Captive Animals Protection Society for sending us posters and leaflets, this made our protest look much better! We haven't had to organise an-anti circus protest in this area before because most of the circuses that come to Southsea Common use people performers and acrobats only. It is a rather old-fashioned idea to make animals perform in this unnatural way.

We had our posters and placards and were handing out leaflets to everyone who passed by. During the interval people came out and we got a lot of attention from the public. Many people came over to question us about why we think it's cruel to use animals in this way. A lot of people said that ' they like doing tricks' and 'but they're well looked after'.

This isn't the point, we don't think it's fair to cart animals up and down the country and keep them in tiny stables while the circus is in town. It is highly stressful being made to perform in front of bright lights, loud music and crowds of people, and highly unnatural. They have no choice in whether they perform or not and humans just don't have the right to exploit animals in this way for money.

A lot of people were very supportive and loads of people took leaflets on their way out of the circus. Zippos had at least 4 horses, kept in tiny stables with no exercise area, they also had 3 Shetland ponies which were in very tiny box areas, one was circling around - a sign of stress in animals. They also have budgies but we didn't see them.

A reporter came down from Portsmouth News to do a story on the protest, he showed a genuine interest in our views and took pictures. The article can be found on Page 2 of today's newspaper!

We will be continuing our protests and leafleting over the course of the next 2 weeks, if anyone would like to help out please contact Andy, our Outreach Coordinator here at SARC:  andy@sarconline.co.uk