Ringling Will Retire Circus Elephants Two Years Earlier Than Planned
In May, the performers will join other elephants at the company’s conservation center in central Florida.
Early in May, 11 female elephants that together have spent decades on the road for circuses will step off train cars and super-semi trucks for the last time into retirement in central Florida. Most will be returning to family and friends. (Read "Here's Where Ringling Bros. Is Sending Its Circus Elephants to Retire.")
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus announced Monday that it would speed up the performers’ retirement by two years because it realized it could. After their final performances on May 1, in Wilkes Barre, Pa., and Providence, R.I., the elephants will live out their lives at Ringling’s Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC), on 200 remote acres not far from Disney World.
They will join 29 other elephants
