I READ with horror that Giffards Circus is to be hosted in late May by Sudeley Castle.

To get here from their winter quarters in Scotland the wild animals kept by this business will have been packed into the back of trucks and dragged across England - a practice which will continue for the rest of the summer as the entertainment ploughs its tired way across the land.

Giffards is one of the very, very few circuses which remain in these islands - thanks to the continuing protests about this truly vile activity.

How can it be right to continue with the medieval activity - teaching animals tricks for the amusement of humans who, as a the superior species, ought to know better. And what practices are used in the teaching? Beating? Deprivation of food?

No doubt the Gifford clan will say they love their captives - but never enough to give them their freedom. Keeping animals in cages is always disgusting - earning a living from their torment is even worse.

You don't have to be a bunny-hugger to work out that wild animals should stay in the wild.

If the excuse is that children need to see them then there are limitless hours of viewing available on the television - though of course you won't be able to see any tricks.

The final banning of circuses cannot be too far away but one sure way to stop them is to make them financially unviable by refusing to pay to see animals demeaned and humiliated for entertainment.

MRS M PORTMAN Broadway