At a Florida retirement home for former circus elephants, residents enjoy a steady diet of high-quality hay and local fruits and vegetables, as well as baths and occasional walks.
For these majestic beasts, this life of relative leisure at the 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation comes after years on the road, entertaining America in “The Greatest Show on Earth” for Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Under pressure of animal rights activists, the circus is now phasing the animals out of its show.
In March, the circus company announced with some reluctance that it would end its elephant acts by 2018. It said it wanted to use the retired animals to help save their endangered species through breeding and medical research.
“If we didn’t do it, the elephants would go extinct in North America, likely in 25 years or less,” said Kenneth Feld, chief executive officer of the circus’ owner, Feld Entertainment.
Animal welfare groups, which for years have accused the circus of mistreating the elephants, are still not satisfied and have questioned the company’s current plan.
“Certainly it’s an improvement to take the elephants off the road, but Ringling should immediately retire all its elephants to real sanctuaries instead of a bogus breeding farm in Florida,” said Rachel Mathews, legal counsel to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “They should be allowed to just be elephants.”
Asian elephants, which are smaller and rarer than the African variety, have long been an audience favorite under the big top.
Fewer than 40,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild. About 250 are in captivity in the United States, 26 of which were born over the past 20 years at Ringling facilities.
The ranch-like property in central Florida where 29 of the circus company’s 42 Asian elephants now live is about an hour’s drive south of The Villages, the sprawling human retirement destination and golfer’s paradise.
The elephants spend their days outdoors in fenced enclosures where they are in sight or earshot of one another and enjoy loaves of white bread as an occasional treat. At night they stay in large barns, with their feet often chained to keep them from stealing each other’s food.
