Why cruel, pointless and anachronistic activities such as circuses still exist in 2015 is a genuine mystery. Among the countless sophisticated forms that humans have devised to exploit and mistreat animals, their use for human entertainment is surely among the worst. Wild creatures are forced to perform in "shows" that violate their nature, bent into submission through violence and coercion alone until they are reduced to pale caricatures of what they once were.

According to numerous theories, violence against animals — too often dismissed as a "normal" social and even cultural factor — can be linked to violence against human beings. "From killing animals to killing men is but a small step," wrote the Russian writer and philosopher Lev Tolstoy.

Confirmation comes from Operation "Golden Circus", an investigation conducted by the Foreign Criminality section of the Palermo mobile squad, which uncovered an international criminal organisation involving numerous circus enterprises, guilty of exploiting illegal immigration.

Through bogus employment contracts for foreign workers — predominantly from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan — hundreds of migrants were smuggled illegally into Italy, fuelling a criminal operation worth seven million euros.

In this human-trafficking network, alongside the criminal ringleaders, numerous circus operators are implicated — already no strangers to animal trafficking — as well as a corrupt employee of the Sicilian regional labour department, Vito Gambino.

The Palermo public prosecutor, Francesco Lo Voi, ordered the arrest of forty people, including the owners of eighteen circuses who allegedly received between two thousand and three thousand euros from the trafficking organisation for each undocumented migrant they took on.

Among those named are well-known figures such as Lino Orfei and Alvaro Bizzarro, owners of the circuses bearing their names, and Darvin Cristiani, manager of the Circo Praga. The other circuses involved are Coliseum Sandra Orfei, Città di Roma, Smart Shane, Kumar, Vienna Roller, Caroli, Wigliams Brother, Jonathan, Apollo, De Blais, Meraviglioso, Aris Martini, Martini Cirque D'Europe, acquatico Denji show and Acquatico splash.

According to law enforcement, migrants paid up to 15,000 euros to obtain a forged employment authorisation for circus work, bearing the signature of the Sicilian region. "This is an unprecedented investigation that casts new shadows over the world of the circus, revealing a reality that is no stranger to widespread irregularities and a lack of transparency," reads a statement from Lav.

Making the situation even more serious, the environmental association reports, many circuses with animals receive public funding for their activities, despite having no entitlement to it or being subject to legal proceedings.

To counter this sector, which exploits humans and animals alike without discrimination, the only tool available to citizens — given the inaction of institutions — is boycott, because there is nothing entertaining or educational about watching a creature in suffering.