Feld Entertainment, parent company of Ringling Bros.
and Barnum & Bailey Circus, said that all of its Asian elephants will stop
performing in its traveling circus this May, two years ahead of schedule.
Last March, Feld Entertainment said that the touring
elephants would move to the Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation in
Florida by 2018. When the decision was initially announced last year, Feld
Entertainment called the move an “unprecedented change” in its 145-year old
circus.
The decision comes after years of pressure from
animals-rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and
Last Chance for Animals.
“These elephants have lived every single day in misery
for years,” Chris DeRose, president and founder of LCA, said in a statement.
“Finally, Ringing Bros. realized that elephant torture is bad for their image
and decided to retire the elephants this year instead of in 2018.”
Feld Entertainment invites people who want to see the
elephants perform one last time to do so by May.