Ringling Bros. Circus Shuts Down

Citing a “dramatic drop” in ticket sales, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that it was shutting down after 146 years. PETA targeted Ringling for over three decades, holding protests outside performances; publicizing photos and videos showing trainers beating, striking, hooking, whipping, and roughly handling animals; and lobbying for bans on bullhooks and animal performances. We filed more than 130 formal complaints against the circus with the USDA, met with the agency numerous times, and documented gross neglect, prolonged chaining, and animal deaths—including those of a baby elephant who died after breaking his legs during training, another who was forced to perform while fatally ill, and a lion who died of heatstroke in a Ringling boxcar.