APNewsBreak: Ringling circus elephants to retire in May

In the wake of growing concerns raised by animal rights activists and an increasing number of bans across the country, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will officially bring an end to its touring elephants act almost two years earlier than initially expected, the Associated Press reports.

Ringling Brothers, America’s best-known circus, announced Monday it will relocate all of its elephants to a conservation centre in Florida by May, advancing the retirement date for the giant pachyderms by more than a year. The circus now has 43 elephants on tour, with 29 others residing at the 200-acre Center for Conservation. “They’ll be joining the rest of the herd”, Alana Feld, executive vice president and show producer for Ringling, says.

Feld Entertainment, the parent company of the Ringling Bros. There are 11 elephants on tour with the circus. Feld owns the largest herd of Asian elephants in North America.

With production of the next edition of The Greatest Show On Earth underway, Feld Entertainment plans to unveil the details of Ringling Bros. newest, out of this world experience in April 2016. It is estimated that 50 percent of Asian elephants owned by the circus were captured from the wild, and at least 30 elephants have died in the circus since 1992.

Whistleblowers such as former Ringling Bros. trainer, Sam Haddock have also come forward, detailing the deprivation, pain, and negative reinforcement used to train baby elephants, who are often taken from their mothers as early as 18 to 22 months of age.

The show elephants are retiring this summer.

Compared with just one copy in humans, elephants’ cells contain 20 copies of a major cancer-suppressing gene, two teams of scientists reported in October. “This transition will also allow us to fully focus on the role our elephants have in the pioneering pediatric cancer research project with Dr. Schiffman”.

It urged Ringling to send the elephants to a bona fide animal sanctuary with conditions similar to those they would find in their natural habitat.