Patricia Manterola Urges Hispanic Community to Boycott the Big Top

Patricia Manterola, the popular recording artist known to millions for her role on the Spanish-language TV show Angeles, is the latest international celebrity to star in an ad campaign for PETA. The Mexico native posed nearly naked in a cage, with her body painted to resemble that of a tiger, for an advertisement entitled, "Even the Most Exotic Animals Don't Belong Behind Bars."

Manterola hopes the ad, which she unveiled at a PETA party at Miami's hottest nightspot, The Living Room, will convince Hispanics, the fastest-growing population in the United States, to boycott circuses. Recently, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus unveiled its first-ever national Hispanic marketing campaign. Claiming that "Hispanics have a tradition of attending the circus," Ringling Bros. has customized shows and advertising efforts to target Spanish-speaking audiences.

Manterola is telling the Hispanic community what the circus won't: In order to force animals to perform stressful acts (like jumping through fire), trainers use whips, muzzles, electric prods, and bullhooks. In nature, these animals would be free to walk and run, choose lifetime companions, and raise their families. The circus forces the animals to perform confusing acts night after night for 48 to 50 weeks every year. Between acts, elephants are kept chained, and bears and tigers are "stored" in cages barely large enough for them to turn around in.

Click here to watch PETA's Ringling Bros. video.

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