After 146 years, the ever-famous Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be closing their curtains for the last time this upcoming May. Due to the high operating costs and steady decline in ticket sales, CEO Kenneth Feld of Feld Entertainment claims that the circus has become an unstable business for the company.
For centuries, the circus has been under deep scrutiny for its endless animal cruelty and high performance costs. Animal activist groups have almost become a part of the circus, with protests popping up at nearly every Ringling Bros. show.
As a child, I, as I'm sure many other naive children did, genuinely enjoyed the circus. Evidently, I was blind to the criticism that the organization was receiving even then. It all felt so magical, watching the animals perform and seeing the acrobats soar effortlessly through the air. I'd always admired the animals and thought that they were just as talented as the people performing. But the mistreatment that these animals endure is finally coming to an end.
This is a major victory for animals and their lovers everywhere. Activist groups such as PETA have been raising awareness about animal cruelty for years, exposing cruel facts about what the circus elephants have been experiencing for far too long.
From tearing baby elephants away from their mothers to keeping elephants in boxcars during travel time of up to 100 hours, the barbaric practices of the circus has rightfully earned it the fitting title of "the cruelest show on Earth." Regardless of how overworked these creatures are, they are merely sprinkled with Wonder Dust so the show can go on.
And the elephants are not the only animals in the circus undergoing such cruelty. The big cats of the show, the lions and tigers, are also carted around from city to city in small, cramped cages. Their basic survival needs of socializing, exercising and roaming free are stripped away from them as a result of the captivity. Often trained through food deprivation and punishment, 126 captive cats and 25 humans have died in the past 25 years in the United States alone since 1990.
Although the CEO claims that animal cruelty is not a reason for the circus' closing, it is obviously a major player in making this landmark decision. President and CEO Wayne Pacelle of The Humane Society of the United States is applauding the decision "to move away from an institution grounded on inherently inhumane wild animal acts."
Well, so am I.
