There are 11 Asian elephants touring the country, as of January. The elephants are crammed into boxcars for up to 100 hours straight and kept on the road for 11 months of the year – in the wild, they roam up to 30 miles a day.
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“Certainly this is unprecedented for us”.
PETA said that in the United States there are about 17 traveling circuses, including Ringling, that still use elephants.
“We wanted to create a deadline and work back from that and we realized there was enough barn space and pasture space for them”, said Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, which oversees the largest herd of Asian elephants in North America.
Performing elephants are typically struck with an implement called a bullhook – a hybrid between a baseball bat and a fire poker that handlers use to hurt elephants and instill fear in them, in order to control them. Ringling Bros. has been repeatedly criticized, picketed and even sued by several animal rights groups for its treatment of the elephants.
“This decision sends a very strong message – not only to other circuses but also tourists who may be thinking of buying a ticket”.
“Thankfully, we didn’t have to build anything”, he said.
“We anticipate that the elephants, instead of enjoying retirement in a true sanctuary, will experience other forms of commercial exploitation”, Liss added.
“This decision was not easy, but it is in the best interest of our company, our elephants and our customers”, Kenneth Feld, chairman of the company, said in a statement last March.
“They’ll be joining the rest of the herd”, Feld said. “It’s just become logically impossible to give them the continuity of care that they require”. “I’m skeptical. It’s such a long pattern of abuse”.
Here’s hoping it’s a better life than the circus life.
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The journey from Rhode Island and Pennsylvania to Florida is not expected to take too long, Payne says, and both the trucks and train will stop regularly to allow the elephants to get out and stretch their legs. As discussed in the official announcement, the animals will be moved to the Center for Elephant Conservation in May. In November, Sea World said it does not have plans to retire the orcas at this time.
