Olivia Munn Gets Naked for PETA and the Circus

Actress, Maxim cover girl and host of G4's Attack of the Show (a fantastic program if you're a gadget, tech and movie-lover) Olivia Munn won't be joining the circus anytime soon. She's the latest in a long line of famous celebrity hard-bodies to bare all for PETA. Munn's new ad campaign, which was revealed today, focuses on cruelty towards animals in the circus. That's right, it may be all glitz, glamor and tricks in the ring, but behind the scenes, the life of a circus animal is actually closer to a scene from Dumbo.

According to PETA's website, "Olivia has a soft spot for animals and was shocked to learn that elephants used in circuses are torn from their mothers at birth and bound and electro-shocked as babies in order to break their spirits." In order to get circus elephants to perform tricks such as balancing on balls and doing the famous elephant walk, their trainers use whips, tight collars, electrical shocking, muzzles, bullwhips and other tools of torture.

"I had seen a video online about the mistreatment and abuse of these elephants at the Ringling Bros. circus event, and I was brought to tears," Munn says in an interview with PETA. The video in question was produced by PETA, and you can watch it here, but be warned, it is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. It contains undercover images of a popular circus severely mistreating elephants with metal bullhooks.

"When you look at something like the circus and everyone's laughing and there's color and there's music and everything seems so great, but when you go right behind that door and they're in these crates all day long and then they're getting shocked and beat just so they can get up and dance around on a ball ... it was just so sickening," Munn says about the video.

In addition to calling for her fans to use their Twitter, Facebook and MySpace pages (she's the poster girl for the social networking world) to speak out against animal cruelty in the circus, Munn also posed naked for a new billboard that is now prominently displayed in Los Angeles at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Highland Avenue. It reads: "As Nature Intended, Let Elephants Be Free. Boycott the Circus." It's sure to stop traffic and make a point.

Photo by Hama Saunders courtesy of PETA.