The Circus Animal Rights Coalition has welcomed a circular issued by the Director General, Directorate for Educational Services, instructing schools not to hold visits to the circus during school time.

"Activities involving the exploitation of animals cannot be educational but rather give a distorted image of the nature of these animals and man's relationship with them," the NGOs said.

It said it was calling on the DG to further strengthen the stand taken on animal cruelty by doing the same for the daily shows using animals at the local dolphinarium. "Using animals, captive bred or not, for entertainment and profit-making purposes goes against the notion of values being taught to children on a nationwide basis and conflicts clearly with all the animal awareness programmes which have been developed over the years by the education sectors and NGOs."

The coalition also asked the public to make an informed decision before visiting any activity involving animals and to think about all the difficulties these animals must face during transportation, training and the performances themselves.

The coalition is composed of: Moviment Graffitti, Animal Rights Group, Ananda Marga, Association for Abandoned Animals, Island Sanctuary, CETFREE, Greenhouse, Alternattiva Demokratika Żagħżagħ, SOS Animals, St. Francis D’Assisi Foundation, Nature Trust (Malta), SPCA (Malta), Ċentru Tbexbix, Stray Animal Support Group, Street Cat Rescue, Share Malta, Noah’s Arc, National Cat Society, International Animal Rescue and World Animal Conscience.