The Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Big Top Circus Comes Toppling Down

Last week on January 15th, 2017, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that they would be shutting down their big top circus after a 146 years of family friendly entertainment around the United States. Kenneth Feld, the CEO of Feld Entertainment, divulged the reason for the closure of the big top circus on the official Feld Entertainment website.

“Ringling Bros. ticket sales have been declining, but following the transition of the elephants off the road, we saw an even more dramatic drop. This, coupled with high operating costs, made the circus an unsustainable business for the company.”

As stated by Kenneth Feld, the circus had a dramatic drop in ticket sales after the circus had to drop their elephant act in the summer of 2016. This was due to protesting and lawsuits from many animal rights activist groups, the most prominent being People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or commonly known as PETA.

These activist groups have claimed in the past, Ringling Brothers have abused and mistreated their animals. The most infamous of these claims against the Ringling Brothers involved their performing elephants parading around while sick and injured. They celebrated after their push to get the elephants out of the limelight worked and they’re certainly celebrating now that the entire circus has been forced to put on their final show.

The same excitement held by the animal rights activists can not be held by the rest of us though. The Ringling Brothers circus has been an American tradition that has spanned many generations and provided many a sense of wonderment and joy that can never be recreated.

The circus goers are not the only ones suffering from this though as many of the circus workers will be left jobless after the circus’s final show. An estimated four hundred jobs will be lost and most if not all of the workers will be left homeless as their home was the circus itself.

The animals will not be left behind though. The circus has plans to move the animals to suitable homes, just like what they did with their Center for Elephant Conservation after their elephant’s final act last summer.

The Ringling Brothers circus will be hosting their final show on May 21, 2017. This final show certainly won’t be the last thing we’ll see from the circus though.
“Ringling Bros. will always be part of Feld Entertainment, and it’s spirit will live on in every production and product we do” said Kenneth Feld.