The exotic animals are confined to small paddocks, the acrobats have been grounded, and the clowns aren’t able to make an audience laugh anymore.

The coronavirus has brought the curtain down on the Zavatelli Circus, at least for the time being.

Unable to travel or perform across Europe, the French family-run operation is waiting out the pandemic in a car park in the southern Belgium town of Gembloux – and quickly running out of funds to feed its animals.

“For us, the confinement is very difficult because we are not working. We have no cash flow,” said circus director Kevin Dubois…