Authorities are considering a ban on circuses featuring performing animals, it emerged yesterday, after a video showing a circus trainer battering an elephant with a pole was posted on the Internet.

Agricultural Development Minister Sotiris Hatzigakis yesterday described the incident as “bordering on barbarity” and “out of tune with our culture,” noting that the use of animals for entertainment was an outdated practice.

The video, which provoked widespread public outrage after being posted on YouTube, shows a man repeatedly hitting a pachyderm on the head with a hooked pole and tugging at its ear. The video, which shows trucks with the bright orange logo of the Italian Circo Massimo troupe, is said to have been made before a performance by the troupe in the northern town of Florina earlier this month.