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Discussion » Questions » Animals (Wild) » Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus is shuttering after 150 year, end of an icon or who cares?
Benedict Arnold

Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus is shuttering after 150 year, end of an icon or who cares?

I haven't been to a traditional circus since I was a kid, so not going to miss it. Many are blaming pressure from activist groups to stop using animals, especially elephants. Ironically, the elephant refuge was started by the circus. Personally, I don't support animals as entertainment. I understand conservation efforts in tandem with zoos and such, especially in regard to the demise of animals in the wild, but it pains me to see magnificent creatures without the room to roam or run free.

Posted - January 17, 2017
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Responses


  • 5614
    Mixed feelings. Abuse of animals may have been averted but life in captivity doing labor is better than what awaits them in the wild if not taken in. The days of these creatures are numbered as long as humans are around.
      January 17, 2017 9:26 PM MST
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  • I also have mixed feelings, but where is the line?
      January 17, 2017 9:36 PM MST
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  • 5614
    Reserves, the problem is in financing them and then policing them from disease, human encroachment, poaching and also controlling population in the absence of natural predators. The task of guardian is a great responsibility
      January 19, 2017 8:01 PM MST
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  • I despise any form of entertainment that exploits , captivates and parades any animal for display ..... I dont like the circus then.... Or that zoo ,,,,
    My phone fought me answer ... Meh :) 



     
      January 17, 2017 9:26 PM MST
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  • What about a zoo partaking in a breeding program to perpetuate an endangered species?
      January 17, 2017 9:32 PM MST
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  • No ..... Don't believe them. They don't care ...I may have worked for my countries gov too  long ... I'm a bit jaded :) but still .... No p
      January 17, 2017 9:36 PM MST
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  • 3523
    Hee haw.  Not me. This post was edited by CallMeIshmael at January 18, 2017 10:59 AM MST
      January 17, 2017 10:33 PM MST
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  • 7939
    This was the first I've heard of it and I am totally heartbroken. My youngest child is never going to see the circus. :/ I even just ran and checked the locations for the remaining shows and they won't be anywhere near me. I would have done a road trip to a neighboring state just to make sure we got to catch them, but they're way on the other side of the country for their remaining shows.

    I grew up an hour away from Baraboo, WI- a HUGE circus town, home of the Ringling Bros. I saw the circus all the time, went to the museum a bunch of times. It probably sounds silly, but it was a big part of my youth- to the point where I actually took clowning classes and did some events when I was younger.

    A part of me just died. :/

    Screw you, 2017. You suck as bad as 2016 did.
      January 18, 2017 12:16 AM MST
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  • You have my sympathies.  According to my uncle, P.T. Barnum is somewhere/somehow in my family tree and I've never been to a circus. We can cry on each other's shoulder.
      January 18, 2017 12:55 AM MST
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  • 7939
    I knew you were good people. ;) Thanks.
      January 18, 2017 1:15 PM MST
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  • Sorry about that. Never been to Baraboo, but had a friend who lived there for a while. I know the train and parade were big deals in their time, and who can forget Ernest Borgnine?
      January 18, 2017 11:04 AM MST
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  • 2500
    Don't give up hope just yet. Unless you insist on seeing "The Greatest Show on Earth" there's a few smaller circuses still in operation. There's one that shows up in our area every summer.
      January 18, 2017 1:48 PM MST
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  • 7939
    Yes, there are, but the Ringling Bros/ Barnum and Bailey was particularly special to me. We do have smaller circuses that come to my area as well, but I guess it's more about tradition with me. I will probably take my youngest to one of the others, but it won't be the same. Ringling Brothers were a local thing gone big, so it wasn't just a circus. It was a "hometown" connection for me as well. That particular circus shaped me... it probably sounds odd if you don't have the same connection to something. It's kind of like if someone became a musician or gained a lifelong love of music because they went to the symphony repeatedly as a child or those who learned to love a sport because of a specific franchize. To have it gone... It really is sad. Sure, you can watch another baseball team if your franchize shuts down or moves away, but it's not the same. It's not "your team."
      January 19, 2017 5:17 PM MST
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  • 2500
    Too much "free" competition from "the left" these days. For example, this Rhodes scholar decided to try to make an ash of himself . . .

    http://abc7news.com/news/california-man-sets-himself-on-fire-at-dc-trump-hotel/1707801/

    That level of free entertainment is REALLY hard to compete with.
      January 18, 2017 1:33 PM MST
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  • 34253
    Very sad. The animals are not mistreated. I would have loved to see the real circus. I have seen several smaller ones but everyone I have ever talked to has said this was the best one. 
    Is a shame groups like PETA can't just stay out of it as long as the animals are not mistreated they should shut up. They are also trying to shutdown Sea World too
      January 19, 2017 8:42 PM MST
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