Elephants performing at a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show. Credit: © Shuttertock

January 14, 2016

Less than a year after Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced it would be retiring its elephants by 2018, they have moved the retirement date up by a year and a half. The 11 elephants on tour with the circus will be joining the rest of the herd in May at Ringling’s 200-acre (80-hectare) Center for Elephant Conservation in central Florida.

After 145 years of featuring the animals in its “Greatest Show on Earth,” the circus is phasing out its elephant act and focusing their efforts on elephant conservation programs in North America and Sri Lanka. Critics noted the retirement comes after years of scrutiny and criticism concerning the organization’s training and treatment of elephants, especially while on tour. Tours can involve the animals traveling to over 100 cities in a year. Several cities have banned shows with live elephants, making Ringling’s planning of its circus tour more difficult.

Ringling’s conservation center is working to help increase the number of Asian elephants. There are only about 40,000 to 50,000 of this endangered species remaining in the wild. Since the 1860′s, the animal’s population has been halved. Threats to elephant survival include habitat loss, conflict with humans, and illegal wildlife trade, especially of ivory from elephant tusks. Wildlife experts agree that elephants are in great danger and need human protection to survive.

In addition to conservation, the retired elephants at the Center for Elephant Conservation will be a part of cancer research. Cancer is much more common in humans than elephants, even though the second largest animal on land has many more cells in its body. This has baffled scientists for years, but they now think they may have an explanation and high hopes that it will lead to new ways to protect humans from cancer. Elephants have 20 times the copies of a major cancer-suppressing gene than humans. This gene helps in repairing damaged cells that have been exposed to cancer-causing substances.

March 10, 2015

Last week, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced they will retire their performing elephants by 2018. The animals will then live at the company’s Center for Elephant Conservation in central Florida. The 200-acre (80-hectare) center was established in 1995 and is a home for elephants to grow up and grow old.

After 145 years of featuring the animals in its “Greatest Show on Earth,” the company announced that it had taken this “unprecedented” decision to be able to focus its efforts on elephant conservation programs in North America and Sri Lanka. Critics noted the announcement came after years of scrutiny and criticism concerning the organization’s training and treatment of elephants while on tour, which can include traveling to over 100 cities in a year. Several cities banned shows with live elephants, which made Ringling Brothers tour schedule more complex.

Elephants performing at a Ringling Brothers show. Animal-rights activists have objected to the way in which elephants are housed and trained when traveling with the circus. Credit: © Shutterstock

The Asian elephant (Elephas maximas), the species of elephant featured in Ringling Brothers shows, is one of the largest animals on Earth, standing from 9 to 10 ½ feet (2.7 to 3.2 meters) tall at the shoulder and weighing up to 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms). Elephants are extremely strong, highly intelligent, and socially sensitive. People have tamed and trained them for thousands of years. Trained circus elephants can stand on their heads, lie down and roll over, dance, and perform many other tricks. According to Ringling Brothers circus, elephants can respond to some 60 verbal commands.

Hopefully, Ringling Brothers conservation center can help to increase the number of Asian elephants. There are only about 40,000 to 50,000 of this endangered species remaining in the wild. Since the 1860′s, the animal’s population has been halved. Threats to elephants’ survival include habitat loss, conflict with humans, and illegal wildlife trade, especially of ivory from elephant tusks. Wildlife experts agree that elephants are in great danger and need human protection to survive. A spokesman for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey stated of their Center for Elephant Conservation, “No other institution has done or is doing more to save this species from extinction.”

Other World Book articles:

• In the Company of Elephants (a Special report)
• Ringling brothers