After 146 years, the famous Ringling Brothers Circus has announced its closing. The circus will officially close in May after about 30  more farewell performances. The closing of this beloved circus has resulted in heated controversy. For years the circus has been criticized for their unethical treatment of their animals. While the circus has made changes throughout the years, people argue that these changes were not made quick enough nor were enough.

In 1884, five of the seven Ringling Brothers, Albert, August, Otto, Alfred T., Charles, John, and Henry, started a circus together. This circus, known as the Ringling Brother Circus, started in Baraboo, Wisconsin, quickly became popular, and thus expanded. In 1907, they obtained the Barnum & Bailey Circus and merged the two circuses in 1919. This merged show soon became known as The Greatest Show on Earth, which it is still referred to as today. There was a change of companies in 1967 in which the Feld Entertainment family-run business took over ownership. To this day the business is run by Feld Entertainment.

However, problems arose around 1981 due to controversy with animal right groups. More and more was being uncovered about the treatment of the circus’ animals, specifically the elephants. While almost all the animals in the circus were reportedly abused, the most abuses were reported of the elephants. Over the years, Ringling Brothers has paid countless money in fines, and in 2011 paid the largest settlement of its kind costing 270,000 dollars for violating the Animal Welfare Act on several occasions. These violations are, but not limited to, brutal beatings that have left visible marks, being kept in small boxcars for hours, bullhooks, ropes, and electric prods used for training, and cruel practices in order to “break” the elephants.

In the past, 11 elephants have toured with the circus, and there have been 29 under the ownership of Feld Entertainment. In January of 2016, however, the circus made the major decision to cut all the elephant acts from the show. This was a major decision for many people. Animal rights groups had been advocating for years against the circus’ use of the elephants and saw this as a huge victory. Furthermore, many people who attended the shows became uncomfortable with the elephant acts. These issues, along with new government legislation, eventually caused the Ringling Brothers to remove their elephant act and place the elephants into a 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation that is owned by the circus.

After the decision to remove the elephant act, the Ringling Brothers ended up facing financial problems. Since the elephant act was their biggest act, many people no longer were interested in attending shows. The low ticket sales, along with constant fighting with animal right groups and lawmakers, resulted in the circus realizing it was in their best financial interest to close.
It is based on personal perspective if this is a sad or happy event. Regardless, the Ringling Brothers circus has been around for years and has become a tradition for many families. However, is this worth sacrificing the welfare of animals for?