Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to retire all elephants by May

Ringling Bros. went as far as to hire a private investigator to secretly film LCA’s President; but the investigator switched sides, and now openly acknowledges Ringling Bros.’ cruelty to elephants, as seen in the video here.

” PETA warns that because the circus has refused to retire these elephants to an accredited sanctuary, vigilance will be needed to determine how they are treated”, Newkirk said in a statement.

Ringling Brothers, America’s best-known circus, announced Monday it will relocate all of its elephants to a conservation center in Florida by May, advancing the retirement date for the giant pachyderms by more than a year.

Feld Entertainment spokesman Stephen Payne said that after analyzing the space, pasture and water supply of the 200-acre conservation center, “we came to the conclusion that we could do this sooner than 2018”.

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus has been performing with elephants since it purchased Jumbo, the world’s largest elephant, in 1882. Ringling Bros. has been repeatedly criticized, picketed and even sued by several animal rights groups for its treatment of the elephants.

A year ago in March, Feld Entertainment announced that the performances would be phased out by 2018. But despite that legal success, the retirement of the elephants represents a bowing to the wishes of an American public more concerned about the care of animals than generations before.

Previous year we also told you about a rumor that Feld Entertainment would be purchased by Disney. The City of Austin banned the use of bullhooks on the elephants past year. The legislation became too expensive for Feld Entertainment to fight, so they’re doing away with the elephant acts all together. Blood samples from the elephants are being used for pediatric cancer research. Elephants recognize their human handlers and remember them, so the visits will be reunions of sorts at CEC. Scientists believe that elephant DNA may hold a cancer-suppressing gene that causes damaged cells to either fix themselves or self-destruct.

The local ordinances have been put into place due to a lot of pressure from animal rights groups.