Baring her teeth through the bars of a tiny cage and dressed in a pleather catsuit, actor Isha Koppikar proclaims, "Cats Are Too Cool to Be in Zoos", in PETA's latest ad to raise awareness about the cruelty of zoos. Koppikar teamed up with ace photographer Atul Kasbekar to make the stunning ad, which comes in the wake of a landmark Mumbai High Court order demanding improvements at the Mumbai Zoo as a result of a case filed by PETA-India.

Hundreds of thousands of animals languish in zoos throughout the world. Because these animals are denied everything that is natural to them, they express their frustration and loneliness through obsessive, repetitive - even self-destructive - behaviours. Zoochosis, as this disorder is known, can entail head-bobbing, endless swaying, unprovoked aggressiveness, self-biting and hair-pulling and other behaviours never displayed in free-roaming populations. Some animals in zoos walk in circles, retracing their steps until the concrete floors of their cages become visibly worn.

According to the RSPCA, around 40 per cent of European zoo elephants show stereotypic behaviour. Captive Animals Protection Society reports that "surplus" animals are destroyed or sold and that zoos in the UK have even supplied animals for use in experiments, circuses and to the exotic meat industry.

"Wild animals belong in jungles where they can chase, hunt and sun themselves - not in cages where they are jeered at and teased. If you want to see animals really being themselves, switch on a wildlife channel", says cool cat Koppikar.

This isn't the first time that PETA's campaign to reform India's zoos has received support from famous celebrities. In 2002, model-turned-actor Rahul Dev posed for PETA's "Imprisoned Cheetah" ad wearing little more than body-painted spots, and in February 2004, world-renowned sitarist Anoushka Shankar performed exclusively for PETA to raise awareness of the plight of animals in zoos. Later in 2004, Amisha Patel posed as a terrified "prisoner" in a "jail cell" to spotlight wretched conditions at zoos.

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