A circus owner has hit back at animal-rights campaigners who are urging people not to attend the show in Silsden.

Moira Roberts, of the Bobby Roberts Super Circus, was responding to claims by Bradford Animal Protection Group, local residents and Bradford council recreation boss Barry Thorne that circuses are cruel. The council operates a ban on circuses performing on its land.

"We do not have to defend ourselves," she told the Keighley News. "When the public decide they do not want to see us, that's when we will stop coming."

The circus is being held at Jackson's Riverside field, off Keighley Road, Silsden, and is due to run until Sunday.

Complaints were aired in the Keighley News last week. Mrs Roberts says a tiny number of protestors always manage to get their names in the newspapers.

"If people want to protest and do so without any problems, then they will be allowed to continue so long as they do not antagonise customers," she says. "If there were any problems then we would expect the local police to deal with the matter."

In last week's Keighley News, a spokesman for Bradford Animal Prot-ection Group said members would be dropping leaflets revealing the 'humiliation, cruel training routines and cramped living and travelling conditions suffered by these animals'.

Local resident Cathy Liddle, of Elm Grove, said the people of Silsden should say no to the sad spectacle of animals providing 'entertainment'. Cllr Thorne agreed with her that it was cruel and urged people not to go.

But Mrs Roberts says her animals are subject to 'on the spot' checks and that the circus is regularly visited by the RSPCA. "Our doors are always open and we have never had any complaints," she says. "Anyone with a legitimate reason can inspect the animals and if the Keighley News wants to look around, then you too are welcome."

The Keighley News accepted her offer and visited this week. The circus has three Indian elephants, nine ponies, miniature horses and donkeys, geese and dogs.

We were told the circus never travels more than 50 miles to its next venue.

In addition, the animals are exercised, fed and watered at regular intervals throughout the day.

An RSPCA spokesman who visited the site on Monday says that although the charity does not support the circus use of animals such as elephants, there were no problems with the animals at Silsden this week.

During the winter the animals are kept at the circus headquarters near Peterborough.

Mrs Roberts says the only people who are not welcome are the few protesters who have tried to disrupt the show.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.