Come one, come all: the circus is finally catching up with the times. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is planning on retiring all 13 of their remaining performing elephants by 2018.
Although animal rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, would like to take credit for this movement, the family-owned company has spoken out and said that it’s the result of years of discussions and has been a long time coming.
“We’re not reacting to our critics; we’re creating the greatest resource for the preservation of the Asian elephant,” circus owner Kenneth Feld told The Associated Press. And as one of his daughters, Juliette, told the AP, “It was a decision 145 years in the making.”
These 145 years refer to when P.T. Barnum, the original owner of the circus, introduced animals into the circus in 1870. The first elephant brought to the circus was named Jumbo and was introduced to the circus in 1882.
Ever since elephants have first been introduced into circuses, cities and counties across the country have passed “anti-circus” and even “anti-elephant” ordinances. Los Angeles and Oakland, California, for example, outlawed the use of bull-hooks by elephant trainers and handlers in April 2014. Bull-hooks are basically modern-day elephant goads, which have sharp hooks that are inserted slightly into the elephant’s skin to cause the elephant to behave how the handler wants it to. And on Feb. 5 in Asheville, North Carolina, the use of wild or exotic animals in performances was banned altogether.
“There’s been somewhat of a mood shift among our customers,” Alana Feld, Ringling Bros.’ executive vice president, told AP. “A lot of people aren’t comfortable with us touring with our elephants.”
Indeed, animal rights groups and activists have repeatedly targeted the circus for allegedly mistreating their elephants, even though there is no evidence to support these claims. In fact, last year, Feld Entertainment won millions of dollars in settlements from groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, finally ending a long legal battle over allegations of elephant mistreatment.
Regardless, some groups are still claiming that Ringling Bros. abuses their animals, the loudest of which being, of course, PETA. Ingrid Newkirk, the president of the organization, released a video statement saying that three years is still a long time to wait to see change.
“The end of the animal circus is a time of great rejoicing for the animal kingdom and for all the animal activists here at PETA and elsewhere who have waited for this time,” she said in the video.
Although the circus will begin phasing out elephants, it has no plans to remove the rest of the animals in its repertoire, including tigers, dogs, goats and camels. PETA will likely jump on this bandwagon next.
All in all, we suppose that this is a good symbolic gesture, for what it’s worth. However, it’s 13 elephants. The reason why elephants are so endangered is not because of these 13 elephants still being used in the circus. It’s because of more complex issues, such as ivory poaching. That’s what should be a priority for animal rights groups, and that’s where peoples’ outrage should be focused.
Bringing these elephants out of the circus where they are maybe-or-maybe-not treated abusively is clearly a good idea, but it raises the question of what to do with them next. Bring them to a wildlife preserve? Release them into the wild, where they risk getting poached for their tusks? We could focus on curbing poaching, but the ivory trade is so huge at this point that stopping it could prove near impossible. It brings us back to the golden question: how do you control or stop something that’s already illegal?
But maybe these groups are right, and taking the elephants out of the circus is the first step to success. After all, not only are circus animals probably treated cruelly, but human circus performers are as well. Circuses often seem more like sideshows or exploitative freak shows than good, clean, family-friendly fun. When you consider that, it’s hard to think of Barnum & Bailey’s circus as “the greatest show on Earth.”
Groups like PETA and the HSUS are vegan cults that want to stop the use of animals and animals products. They lie about animal cruelty and exaggerate the danger of farming and other groups that use animals. They get away with it because our urban society is removed from contact with animals. Most people think of animals as some sort of cartoon caricature that can talk, or some sort of lap dog. These groups attack farming methods like gestation stalls which veterinarians believe are necessary and falsely claim that 28 elephants have died in the Feld’s circus since 1990. As a result of the groups, the cost of meat is skyrocketing and only the rich will have close up experiences with wildlife. Since Purcell is paid an obscene amount of money by the HSUS, the rich includes him