Gameshow host turned animal rights activist Bob Barker is among those celebrating the announcement that Ringling Bros. circus will close, although he says much more needs to be done for animals.
“Most people do not want animals to suffer,” Barker told CTV News Channel on Sunday. “But most people didn’t realize how much suffering was involved in this circus or all circuses.”
The 93-year-old former 'The Price Is Right' host said sea parks, most zoos and the movie industry are “terrible for animals” and he will “keep right on” fighting “until it’s a much better world for animals.”
PETA, meanwhile, is calling the demise of the Ringling Bros. circus a death knell for other exotic animal acts, as public opinion and the march of time puts those old forms of entertainment out to pasture.
Organizers at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals say they'll be happy to see the end of the Ringing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in May, when the travelling U.S. act wraps up its 146-year run.
"PETA has seen the writing on the wall for Ringling Bros. for years now," Ashley Byrne, executive director of PETA, told CTV News Channel on Sunday. "There simply is no need in this day and age to exploit animals for entertainment."
Ringling Bros. will fold up its tents in May, exactly one year after the circus bowed to lawsuit pressure and agreed to remove elephants from its performances. Though it once called itself "The Greatest Show on Earth," the circus has been humbled by rising costs, falling public interest and a long string of legal battles with animal rights activists.
Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus, says it wasn't cancelled for any one reason. "The competitor in many ways is time," Kenneth Feld, the company's chairman and CEO, told the Associated Press. He pointed to a number of factors, including the difficulty with transporting the circus by rail – a throwback practice to the era when the circus began. "You've got all these factors," he said.
His daughter, Juliette Feld, acknowledged that nixing the elephant act had a significant negative impact on business, saying there was a “dramatic drop” in ticket sales after the decision was made.
"We know now that one of the major reasons people came to Ringling Bros. was getting to see the elephants," she said. "We know it was the right decision. This was what audiences wanted to see and it definitely played a major role.”
Byrne said PETA would prefer acts like the circus focus on human performances, rather than integrating them with captive animals. "The public does not want to see exotic animals in captivity," she said. "It only teaches a disregard for the needs of other species."
She also linked the demise of Ringling Bros. with SeaWorld's recent decision to end its whale show.
"We have seen ticket sales plummet at Ringling Bros., (and) we've seen the same at SeaWorld," she said. She added that there's "no education value" to holding animals captive and showing them outside their natural habitat.
Ringling Bros. is expected to send its remaining animals to sanctuaries when it closes, just as it did with the elephants last year.
SeaWorld announced the end of its whale shows on Jan. 7, one day after the death of Tilikum, a famed orca that once killed a trainer during a performance. The whale had been the subject of the documentary "Blackfish," which criticized the conditions under which orcas are held in captivity.
SeaWorld said it's keeping its orcas for educational purposes.
With files from the Associated Press
