A changing of the guard in Washington overshadowed another sign of the times this week in Florida, the announcement that Manatee County-based Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus will end performances in May.
Many saw the end coming in May, when the “Greatest Show on Earth,” permanently retired its elephants to a Polk County conservation center.
But animal rights activists say the seeds of destruction were really sown in 2013 with the debut of “Blackfish,” a documentary about a troubled Orca and the death of a SeaWorld trainer in Orlando. Here’s how Gabriela Cowperthwaite described her film’s message to CNN.
“What we can do with these captive animals is essentially, you know, stop the world of animals for entertainment, which is essentially the circus, right? We need to evolve past that.”
After ticket sales plunged, SeaWorld announced it was ending its captive breeding program and pulling the curtain on killer whale performances in 2019. The Ringling Brothers’ demise is only the next logical step, says Kate MacFall, Florida state director for the Humane Society of the United States.
“This is the way society is going. You don’t’ have to be cruel to animals to make money. In fact, just the opposite. If you’re more humane and your business model is more humane minded, people want that.”
But Feld Entertainment spokesman Stephen Payne says the primary reason Ringling is shutting down is math, not protesters.
“Some of them have been taking a victory lap but the truth about this is there are no winners here. There was not one particular cause that gave rise to this decision, it was a myriad of reasons.”
Company officials say it’s harder for Ringling Brothers to draw crowds without their signature elephant acts. Ticket sales no longer justify rising travel and production costs for two shows and more than 500 employees, Payne says.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus pre-dates human flight, not just the Internet, Payne says, adding that tastes have changed and attention spans have evaporated.
“I can’t think of any other form of entertainment, or that many brands for that matter, that lasted 146 years. I mean, Ringling Brothers is older than Cocoa Cola and the Kentucky Derby. But you’re right. Tastes do change over time.”
But the Humane Society’s Kate MacFall says the public is simply to enlightened to enjoy seeing animals in cages.
“So many people these days realize the cruelty involved and the life of confinement and sadness that the animals endure. It’s just not something that the people want to support anymore.”
According to a company announcement the final performances will be at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island on May 7 and Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on May 21st.
