Ringling Circus elephants end long career in Providence this weekend

PT Barnum added the African elephant he named Jumbo to The Greatest Show On Earth in 1882.

Feld Entertainment, which owns Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, had said its touring elephants would head to a Florida conservation center by 2018.

While animal rights groups largely praise the circus’ decision to retire the elephants, many say the move doesn’t go far enough to eliminate other wild animal acts.

The elephants were trotted out during the show on in Providence for a final “goodbye” to the audience, during which they propped themselves up on each other’s backs and performed headstands for the crowd.

The last “Circus Extreme” show to involve the elephants.

It’s hard to put a number on the remaining circuses that use elephants, Pacelle said.

Some stood and solemnly watched as the elephants marched onto trucks and rolled away from an arena one last time.

Thankfully, after years of protest from animal rights groups and anyone with a heart, that is part of the past now.

“Do we celebrate this last day – yes”, said Chris DeRose, founder of Last Chance for Animals, one of the protesters outside the stadium here.

“The care of exotic animals is a tremendous responsibility”, the ringmaster said.

News that Ringling would stop bringing elephants from city to city on its circus tours landed like a bombshell past year, with Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle comparing the case to SeaWorld’s use of killer whales – and saying that for Feld, which had long resisted calls to stop using elephants in its shows, to agree with activists was “almost like the [fall of] the Berlin Wall within the animal welfare [community]”, as the Two-Way reported. Several posed for photos with the elephants ahead of the final performance. Sunday’s show included horses, lions, tigers, dogs, pigs and other animals.

In addition to aiding research in the endangered species, the herd at the Center for Elephant Conservation has become a key component in one doctor’s quest to develop cancer treatments for humans. Elephants have far fewer incidents of cancer, so researchers are looking for clues in the blood samples of Ringling elephants that could change how cancer is treated in pediatric patients.

“Ringling is the big brand to relent on the use of elephants in traveling acts, and I think it will just be a matter of time before all of it ends”, Pacelle said.

The theme will be outer space, Alana Feld said during the live broadcast, featuring for the first time an incorporated storyline.