As youngsters, a lot of us could not imagine a circus without horses, elephants, lions and tigers. But let's be honest, animals being used for acts to entertain, was nothing short of cruel.

And now, a German performance group has shunned the use of live animals completely, in the process, becoming the first circus in the world to use holograms in the place of live animals.

Circus Roncalli had started to phase out the use of animals in performances in the nineties and now has taken a step to cull the use of animals for entertainment completely. Instead, the German circus has decided to make use of projections.

The circus that was founded in 1976 has decided to change things in an attempt to fight against animal cruelty in the industry.

From horses to elephants and even a goldfish, the circus still has animals, but they are all made up of holograms.

Circus Roncalli uses 3D holographic images to fill an arena which is 105 feet wide and 16 feet deep, with clever special effects such that the whole audience can see.

The mesmerizing holographic experience was created by Roncalli’s agency TAG/TRAUM in cooperation with Bluebox partnered with Optoma, who installed 11 ZU850 laser projectors.

The move follows a bill that was passed in UK which bans circuses using wild animals in their performances. The Wild Animals in Circuses Bill follows the Government’s pledge in February 2018 to introduce a ban by the time the existing interim licensing regulations expire in January 2020, which in itself comes after the Scottish Government became the first in the UK to pass legislation to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses in 2017.