Animal lovers are calling for the cancellation of animal performances in the upcoming Spring Festival Gala hosted by China Central Television.

The criticism started on Sunday after an animal rights group in Beijing watched an interview with the gala's executive director, who disclosed that there will be animal performances during this year's gala.

Lyu Yitao, executive director of the gala, said in an interview with CCTV that animal performances can bring something fresh to the gala.

Since it was first held on New Year's Eve in 1983, the annual CCTV gala has become one of the most-watched TV programs in China.

However, animal protectionists have different views.

"This is against regulations," said Mang Ping, a professor at the Central Institute of Socialism.

She said a regulation from the central government prohibits animal performances in China.

"The gala show, as part of the New Year celebration, should follow the rules," she said.

Mang and other animal rights advocates have sent an open letter to the gala show committee and had collected 321 signatures by Tuesday.

When reached by China Daily on Tuesday, the CCTV gala show committee said it was aware of the complaint but had made no decision yet.

Lu Chendan, an animal rights campaigner who drafted the letter, said that animal performances, which sometimes require beating and forcing animals to do difficult actions in training, are distorting the nature of animals.

Animal rights activists protested against, and successfully stopped, an animal carnival planned in Jinan, Shandong province, before the Mid-Autumn Festival last year.

Zhang Dan, an animal rights advocate, said that the problem lies in the lack of animal welfare laws.

A total of 36 countries and 389 cities in the world have already put "no animal performances" into legislation, she said.

"In countries where a system of animal protection law has been established, people can have access to report and change the situation once they find maltreatment of animals," she said. "However, we don't have animal protection laws and it relies largely on each individual's awareness."

Xie Yan, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the gala should help raise public awareness of protecting a healthy ecosystem.

"Animal performances do not provide any credit in this regard," he said. "It is quite negative to have fun based on the suffering of animals."

[email protected]