CIRCUS owners have hit back at animal rights campaigners who have branded the travelling show "cruel" and "humiliating".

Bobby Roberts' Super Circus landed in Silsden on Sunday for a week-long stint in the town.

But members of the Bradford Animal Protection Group have urged people to boycott the performances.

They claim circus animals are humiliated and forced to undergo cruel training routines and live in cramped conditions.

Now, through the Craven Herald, circus owners have offered an open invitation to anyone to inspect the animals, their living conditions and the way in which they are transported.

Spokesman Derfel Williams said: "The animals are on show all the time and anyone is welcome to come and have a look at them.

"We are animal loving people and they have become a part of our family."

Mr Williams added that Bobby Roberts had owned the three elephants in the show for more than 30 years.

"They have their own enclosures and they are happy to just roam around," he said.

"The tricks they perform are just an extension of what they would do in the wild, but they have been taught to do them on cue.

"This is done with a little bit of practice on a regular basis and a lot of loving care and rewards."

According to its publicity leaflets, Bobby Roberts Circus won the best circus award last year, presented by the Circus Friends Association of Great Britain.

It was also chosen for a special edition of the BBC's Songs of Praise programme, broadcast in January of this year.

The show also includes performing dogs, horses, geese and llamas as well as balancing acts, clowns, knife-throwing and rope-spinning.

Circuses have been in the news recently after animal welfare campaigners across the country called on them to be banned. This followed the death of an elephant in Kenya thought to have suffered injuries during a fall.

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