Fake pandas in Italian circus

Someone called the cops and said an Italian circus was bamboo-zling
the public with these dogs dyed to look like pandas. The circus
retorted that it "should have been obvious" what the animals
were to the public who paid to have their pictures taken
with them. 

From robot elephants in Mexico to rhinos going walkies in Germany and now an Italian circus in trouble for passing off painted chow chow dogs as pandas... it's obviously the silly season for circus stories.

Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson
meets one of the last circus elephants
to appear in Britain.

But should circuses have animals at all? That's one of the recurring questions that became a theme of my book Circus Mania. The Mail on Sunday called it "A brilliant account of a vanishing art form." Click here to read the 5-star reviews on Amazon. Download it to your e-reader for a backstage journey through Britain's circuses this Christmas.