Kate Del Castillo, PETA Latino Team Up To Save Elephants From Circus [VIDEO]

"La Reina del Sur" star Kate del Castillo has teamed up with PETA Latino to raise awareness about animal cruelty in circuses. The actress has narrated a video -- in both English and Spanish -- where she calls on freeing animals from the circus. The video highlights the cruelty circus elephants and caged tigers face --they are whipped, beaten and shocked in order to be trained for their performances. The actress asks people to follow her lead by boycotting the circus and refusing to attend shows that exploit animals.

"Animals deserve better than this sad, lonely, dismal life," says del Castillo in the video. "They deserve the opportunity to be free -- to live as nature intended, not as slaves for our entertainment. Please do not support cruelty to animals by taking your family to a circus. Children learn more about animals from educational videos that show them in their natural environment. Let’s teach this generation and generations to come that kindness is a virtue and should be extended to all living creatures.”

More recently, del Castillo wrote a letter to Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez calling for him to enforce Florida's law that bans crippled animals to perform when Ringling Bros. comes to town. "Florida has the strongest, clearest law in the country against exhibiting crippled animals, which gives officials the ability to intervene in situations such as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus' infamous use of ailing elephants," she writes. "I urge you to ensure that this law is enforced during Ringling's stay in the city."

The actress asks people to follow her lead by boycotting the circus and refusing to attend shows that exploit animals. But that's not the only way to help out, as PETA is calling on advocates to use computer generated effects instead of animal actors, to protest circuses that come to town with animals, avoid sports and fairs that feature animals, opt for an animal sanctuary instead of a zoo and to spread the word.