Last March, the company announced plans to send the traveling members of the herd to its 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation in central Florida by 2018, where they would rejoin 29 Asian elephants already in retirement.
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The cost of caring for the 11 touring elephants is about $65,000 a year, and Feld Entertainment said it wants to use that money to focus on conservation and pediatric cancer research instead.
The Ringling herd at the conservation center in Polk City, Florida, will total 42 once the traveling elephant shows cease.
Animal rights groups were not so quick to congratulate the company on retiring its remaining elephant performers.
But even Charleston has experienced protests by some who find the use of circus elephants inhumane.
Today our sources say that the reason for the early end on the elephant shows is that Disney is looking to push through with the acquisition later this year.
In 2014, Feld Entertainment won $25.2 million in settlements from a number of animal-rights groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, ending a 14-year legal battle over allegations that Ringling employees mistreated elephants. Ringling Bros., the circus company, announced that it would retire its elephants by May 2016.
The announcement is in part due to criticism of the treatment of elephants in circus acts. Many cities, such as Asheville, North Carolina, have recently passed laws meant to protect elephants or remove exotic animals, including elephants, from city-owned facilities. Major cities, such as Los Angeles, have prohibited the use of bullhooks, a long hooked stick used to train elephants.
PETA is pressing Ringling Bros to end all animal acts, but the company still plans to showcase tigers, lions, horses, dogs and camels.
The news comes nearly a year after Feld Entertainment announced the elephants would be phased out and eventually retired by 2018. But the process has moved along more quickly. The new legislation has become too expensive to fight, says Feld Entertainment CEO Kenneth Feld.
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There are 11 Asian elephants touring the country, as of January.
