End of the Show for Elephants

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus said goodbye to its performing elephants

BILL SIKES—AP

Asian elephants perform for the last time in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus on May 1 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Elephants performed their last show for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus on May 1. For years, animal-rights activists have been calling for the circus to stop using elephants in its shows.

“This is a very emotional time for us,” ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson announced at the end of the show in Providence, Rhode Island. Describing the six Asian elephants as beloved members of the circus family, Iverson thanked the animals for their performances over the decades. “Thank you so much for so many years of joy,” he told them as they left the ring for the last time.

During the performance, the elephants danced, balanced on each others’ backs, sat on their hind legs, and pretended to sleep.

“We came to say farewell to the elephants,” Sheila Oliver, of East Providence, said. She brought her 4-year-old daughter, Lilliana, who was seeing the circus for the first time.

A Longtime Tradition

Elephants have been a show-business attraction in the United States for more than 200 years. The tradition is believed to have started in the early 1800s with “Old Bet,” an elephant owned by Hackaliah Bailey of Somers, New York. Bailey put the elephant in a traveling show and charged people money to see it. In 1882, showman P.T. Barnum added the gigantic African elephant “Jumbo” to his circus, which he called “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

TRANSCENDENTAL GRAPHICS/GETTY IMAGES

An illustrated poster for the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1913 shows an elephant baseball team in a stadium.

Over the years, elephants in circuses have been taught to do a variety of tricks, according to Ronald B. Tobias, author of the 2013 book Behemoth: The History of the Elephant in America. These tricks include playing baseball, riding bicycles, and playing musical instruments. The animals have also been dressed up as people, wearing outfits such as wedding dresses.

The end of elephant performances at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Tobias said, is the result of a shift in how Americans view the animals. Instead of seeing elephants solely as circus performers, people now see them as creatures “that are capable of a full range of human emotions.”

The change does not, however, mean the end of elephants performing in front of audiences. More than a dozen circuses in the U.S. continue to use elephants, according to the Humane Society, though none are as famous as Ringling Bros.

Still, even the traveling circuses that continue to feature elephants are finding it more difficult these days to tour with the animals. Dozens of cities have banned the use of bullhooks. A bullhook is a club or stick with a sharp metal hook attached at the top. It is used to guide and train elephants. People who oppose the use of bullhooks say the devices are used to poke and beat the elephants, and causes them pain. Some states are also considering passing laws that ban bullhooks.

Life in Retirement

Ringling’s now-retired elephants will live at the circus’s 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida, said Alana Feld. She is the executive vice president of Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus. The center is home to a herd of 40 Asian elephants, the largest in North America. The elephants are part of a breeding program there, and are involved in a pediatric cancer research project. The project involves the study of the elephants’ blood cells, according to an announcer at Sunday’s performance. Cancer is less common in elephants than humans, and their cells contain 20 copies of a major anti-cancer gene, compared with just one copy in humans.

Will other circuses follow Ringling’s lead and retire their elephants? It is possible. Tobias said people have become more interested in seeing the animals in a natural environment, such as a sanctuary, instead of in a circus or zoo. “It’s kind of a new age in our understanding and sympathy and empathy toward elephants,” he said.

Do you think that this is a good idea to stop the elephant shows? Why or why not?