The parent company of the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus, said they would be ending all its elephant acts in May, 18 months earlier than it had vowed to do.
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The move comes amid increasing scrutiny of circus elephant acts, with local governments passing “anti-circus” and “anti-elephant” ordinances in response to concerns over animal cruelty.
In March of previous year, Ringling announced plans to slowly phase out the elephant portion of its live show by 2018.
The Ringling herd at the conservation centre in Florida will total 42 once the travelling elephant shows cease. The company cites the fact that they were able to build the enclosures at the elephant sanctuary a little faster than previously thought, but could there be another reason why the move is happening quicker?
PETA is pressing Ringling Bros to end all animal acts, but the company still plans to showcase tigers, lions, horses, dogs and camels.
There are now 11 elephants on tour with the circus, which owns the largest herd of Asian elephants in North America.
“That’s a very creative organization and [has] lots of attractions beyond elephants”, Robertson said, “I’m sure they’ll come up with dynamic things to fill in the gaps”.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus announced Monday that it would speed up the performers’ retirement because it realized it could.
Of course, some GOP strategists (Rick Wilson, anyone?) might say Trump is retiring the elephant that is traditional conservatism, but that’s another story.
This is the last time the circus will feature elephants in South Florida. Ringling, meanwhile, has maintained that its trainers lovingly look after the elephants and have an “excellent record of care for all our animals”.
Last fall, a group of scientists revealed that elephant cells possess 20 copies of the “major cancer-suppressing” gene known as the p53 gene.
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Animal rights activists who hailed last year’s decision had also wondered why the elephants couldn’t be retired sooner. They will also take part in medical research, such as why cancer is much less common in elephants than it is in humans.
