After two centuries, its elephants are officially saying goodbye to the circus life forever.
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Clowns from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus visited pediatric patients at Geisinger’s Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville on Thursday to put on a mini show.
In early 2015, Feld executives told the AP that growing public concern about how the animals are treated led to the decision. The lawsuits in federal court in Washington have dragged on for more than a decade. However, with the elephants continuing to perform, activists continued to picket and protest at circus events.
Finally, after years of controversy, Feld Entertainment chose to phase out the elephants from their shows. Ringling Bros.is scheduled to hold its final elephant show during a perf.
Last March, the company said it was retiring its herd of elephants in 2018, but Stephen Payne, of Feld Entertainment, the company that owns the circus said in January that the date had been moved up to May 2016.
However, Feld claims that “no other organization” is doing as much as Feld Entertainment to save the Asian elephant from extinction.
“Elephants actually do stand on their heads in the wild, I’ve seen it”, Payne said. Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida.
The last 11 elephants touring with “The Greatest Show on Earth” will leave behind their enormous studded tiaras and begin traveling on Monday to Ringling’s 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation in central Florida, said Stephen Payne, spokesman for the circus’ parent company, Feld Entertainment.
According to the Ringling Bros.
Sunday’s performance in Providence, Rhode Island, closes the circus’ chapter on a practice that has entertained audiences since circuses began in the USA two centuries ago but that has in recent years been challenged by animal rights activists. Therefore, one would suspect that they would have higher rates of cancer than humans, but they don’t. There the elephants will not only have space to roam, but they will also be used to search for treatments and cures for childhood cancer.
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The use of bullhooks – a long stick with a sharp metal hook – in the elephants’ training and handling, along with chains and other methods of controlling the animals has drawn the ire of animal rights activists who say such methods are cruel. However, they note that numerous practices that the animal rights group decries on the road are used at the conservation center, as well.
