Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus Retiring Elephants Early

By WENDY ANN MITCHELL (Patch Staff)

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus announced Monday that they will retire all 11 of their elephants. The retirement comes two years earlier they they previously announced, “because we realized we could,” they said in a statement.

And where do circus elephants go when they retire? Florida, of course.

The pachyderms’ final two performances will be on May 1, 2016 in Wilkes Barre, Pa., and Providence, RI. From there, the elephants will be transported to Ringling’s Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC), a 200-acre, ”state-of-the-art facility” in Florida that is “dedicated to the conservation, breeding and understanding of these amazing animals,” according to their website.

Before that, you can see them at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia from Feb. 17-21, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn from Feb. 25-March 6, and at the Prudential Center in Newark from March 9-13.

Kenneth Feld, Chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment which owns the circus said, “The elephant has always been a symbol of ‘The Greatest Show on Earth.’ The Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Center for elephant conversation will ensure that people will be able to experience the joy and wonder of Asian elephants for generations to come.”

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus has been accused by animal rights activists of abusing their elephants, often protesting outside of venues while ticket holders wait in line to see the show.

People for the Ethical Teatment of Animals (PETA) made the following statement on their website:

“This is good news, but it’s not all sunshine and roses for the “retired” elephants. Spending days on end chained in stifling, reeking boxcars is a miserable life for these keenly intelligent, active animals, but despite Ringling’s spin on what comes next, the circus’s Florida breeding compound – where the elephants will go – has fundamental flaws. At Ringling’s grandiosely named Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC), elephants will no doubt still be chained on a daily basis, be forced to breed, be deprived of opportunities to interact and socialize normally, and continue to live in fear of being hit with bullhooks. Ringling has also been known to experiment on elephants at the facility and to sell them.”

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey stated on their website that scientists will study the elephants to research why elephants suffer cancer so rarely compared to humans.

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey will begin its 146th season in July 2016 with horses, lions, tigers, dogs, camels, kangaroos and a large African porcupine named Percy.

To see the elephants before they retire, click here for a performance schedule. All shows after May 1, 2016 will not include the 11 female elephants, who have been together for decades.

For more information about Ringling’s Center for Elephant Conservation, click here.

Photo by Andrew McFarlane via Flickr Creative Commons