POLK
CITY, Fla. (AP) — The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will phase
out the show's iconic elephants from its performances by 2018, telling The
Associated Press exclusively that growing public concern about how the animals
are treated led to the decision.
Executives
from Feld Entertainment, Ringling's parent company, said the decision to end the
circus's century-old tradition of showcasing elephants was difficult and debated
at length. Elephants have often been featured on Ringling's posters over the
decades. The decision is being announced Thursday.
"If they're going to fold like a cheap suit case why wait until 2018? Unless the possibility of "Only Three More Years To See The Elephants, etc." might prove profitable."
Buckles
|
Thursday, March 05, 2015
From Shannon
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22 comments:
Well that's about a dozen more
nails in the ol "TGSOE" coffin
They're gonna end up just like
"Serk Du Sowhat"
Wonder what will become of the
Polk City joint after that unless
they turn it into another park
for profit center (oh my)
Ten years or so ago,I'd heard that they'd been considering this move. No doubt market research back then convinced them that they couldn't sell tickets without elephants. Apparently, this is no longer the case. Now, they can build their performances around rubber dragons and dinosaurs and even more smoke, mirrors, and theatrical effects.
They claim that Mysore is their
oldest at 69 & the Chicago Trib
adds "Their care and feeding is
expensive"
Also from the Chicago Tribune is
most telling of all, though, is
the appearance (or the imminent
presence) of local legislation in
some of the many markets to which
the circus travels prohibiting
or restricting use of elephants
It all shows that "money talks"
They claim to own 43 elephants
Be careful Eric about "even more
smoke, mirrors, and theatrical
effects" as nowadays that's how
I make most of my income but I
fully agree with you
Poor Sonny Ridley might just be
forced into his retirement
DAMN !
Maybe it will be something like
"BROUGHT BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND"
The Feld thing just won a multi-million-$ award from the activists, and this is when they choose to knuckle under. They paid high-powered lawyers for years to win for them, then surrender their victory to a radical minority. The Feld thing deserves the contempt of circus people the world around.
I recall Scott and Smokey foretelling of this day. I never thought it would happen so fast. The next generation will miss out on so much.
So very sad.
We were so lucky to work with these animals
Don Bloomer
As Roger Smith says, they won millions in their law suit. But this whole thing with animal rights activists reminds me of the anti gun crowd. They can't beat you head on, so they do an end run and have municipalities ban the elephants thus causing even greater head aches for the circus. The anti gun crowd can't stop one from buying a gun, so they lobby the ATF to ban ammunition .
Maybe the Felds are thinking of tying the monster truck show and the circus together. Instead of elephants, they will have the monster trucks do a long mount, and drive around the track and then out the back door.
Interesting they are keeping the elephants two more years which tells me they have already paid for the next editions Elephant blankets and gear.
if you think about it they have really been phasing out their elephants for years from 20 to 15 10 to 5. In the end i think they 1. caved to public pressure and 2. realized how much money they could save by ditching the elephants and the increase in revenue this decision could bring. However i think this direction could backfire on them--First, the people who decided to not attend due to the elephants are not likely suddenly start now (as PETA will continue to protest as long as RBBB has any animals in captivity) and two--the patrons who have always gone to the circus might suddenly feel turned off because the absence of the elephants.
I've actually wondered recently if the Felds would even think of selling or slowly phasing out the circus portion of their little empire. Case in point, a few weeks back we took our family to Frozen on Ice at the United Center in Chicago--and the place was sold out, literally every seat that could be sold was sold and occupied, and from what I hear it was like this for their entire run. I haven't seen a crowd even close to the at size at RBBB since maybe the early 80's. Do the Felds one day decided that running three units of the circus that play to shrinking audiences is no longer profitable? Is their future in producing arena and ice shows (i.e. Marvel Universe, Disney on Ice) . I would love to see someone buy RBBB and return it to its glory!
It must not be enough to share
the 1.8 billionaire title with
Serk Du Sowhat's Guy Laliberte
so the savings of red lighting
the ponderous pachys might put
him in the lead (for a while)
This story has remained the most
popular on several foreign news
sites all day long & into Friday
The BBC refers to the show as
"ONE of America's largest circus
companies" which must thrill the
folks in Ellenton immensely
A couple of thoughts on this:
1. One of the stories I read about this referenced "response to our consumers" so maybe market research is driving this. Could the consumers finally believe all the BS the AR folks are spreading.
2. I know that of the 43 elephants RBBB owns, there maybe 20 of those are born at the CEC and the oldest is only in their mid 20's, the youngest is just a couple of years old. The average age of the herd is moving up and they have been making sure only certain bulls are allowed on the road.
3. I've heard that "growing your own" herd is getting harder to do. The ladies are getting too old to reproduce, and the gene pool is pretty shallow, so it's quite possible that the elephants we have now in North America, won't be here in another 30 years as they age out. Since nothing related to elephants can't be imported, we can't even do like cattle breeders to and trade the male contribution with other breeders to deepen the gene pool.
4. Building on what somebody else has mentioned, maybe the best plan is to shrink back to one 'good' show that tours and only comes to your town every other year. It would reduce the operating costs of three shows and build up more anticipation for that biannual visit and maybe fill up the arena, rather than half empty. Make more by less dates and deliver a better product. And if the local codes don't allow them to perform there, then show as close to there as you can. Let the consumers decide what they want to do.
5. I also think that seeing three or four elephants (13 on three show units) isn't very impressive. The days of the large 20+ herds went away with Gunther, Axel and Buckles' retirements.
sorry for the long rant, but I am quite upset about this decision.
BRANDON: If the money could be found to revitalize RBBB, I'd be glad to join out. The Felds had their shot, and after Irvin died, the Kenny thing has proven a progressive disgrace--remember right here, when repeated references were aimed at "The Incredible Shrinking Show"? They should be eager--read "wise"--to turn it loose and let circus people make it a circus again.
LARRY LOUREE: From my spot on the windswept, burning sands of the Great Western Mojave--don't apologize. You're damn straight on.
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