--- description: The social nature of elephants makes captivity for them a "living death" title: Why This Big Circus Is Dropping Elephants From Its Acts image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b2fb4f996429df4/6987824de53aba4e324d7eb7/ringling-elephant-circus.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why the Circus Is Saying Goodbye to Elephants  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2015 4:32 PM CUT  Elephants perform at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at the Amalie Arena in Tampa on Jan. 3, 2015. Elephants perform at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at the Amalie Arena in Tampa on Jan. 3, 2015.Gary Bogdon—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2015 4:32 PM CUT On Thursday, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus [announced they would phase out their iconic elephant acts](http://time.com/3733271/ringling-circus-end-elephant-acts/ "undefined") by 2018\. The decision was spurred by public concern about the treatment of elephants in circuses, and perhaps a growing understanding that being kept as an entertainment spectacle is emotionally damaging to the sensitive, intelligent animals. Elephants are social creatures in the wild with close-knit family units. They even perform funeral rituals and spend weeks mourning their dead. So those that have long been in circuses and zoos can come to exhibit symptoms of depression, aggression or post-traumatic stress disorder, most likely as a result of the confinement and isolation. In 2006, the New York _Times_ article [described](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08elephant.html?pagewanted=all&%5Fr=0 "undefined") the trauma elephants undergo in captivity: “Being kept in relative confinement and isolation \[is\] a kind of living death for an animal as socially developed and dependent as we now know elephants to be,” author Charles Siebert wrote. There have been many reports of elephants in captivity experiencing abuse by their handlers. In 2011, _Mother Jones_ published a year-long [investigation](http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/10/ringling-bros-elephant-abuse "undefined") into Ringling Bros.’ treatment of its elephants. Among its claims: --- > “” --- Feld Entertainment, owner of Ringling Bros, said that its elephants were in fact “pampered performers” who “are trained through positive reinforcement, a system of repetition and reward that encourages an animal to show off its innate athletic abilities.” But apparently Ringling is slowly coming to understand that keeping elephants in bondage, animals with a highly developed emotional intelligence, places an uncomfortable mirror on humanity. The New York _Times_ [article](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08elephant.html?pagewanted=all&%5Fr=0 "undefined") describes a former circus elephant who had turned violent: “She and the others have suffered, we now understand, not simply because of us, but because they are, by and large, us.” Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey: Why Circuses Are Dropping Elephants ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3733447/elephants-animal-cruelty-abuse-circus/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3733447/elephants-animal-cruelty-abuse-circus/"},"headline":"Why the Circus Is Saying Goodbye to Elephants","datePublished":"2015-03-05T16:32:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:56:30.631Z","description":"The social nature of elephants makes captivity for them a \"living death\"","url":"https://time.com/3733447/elephants-animal-cruelty-abuse-circus/","keywords":["animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b2fb4f996429df4/6987824de53aba4e324d7eb7/ringling-elephant-circus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b2fb4f996429df4/6987824de53aba4e324d7eb7/ringling-elephant-circus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus","caption":"Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus","creditText":"Gary Bogdon—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3733447/elephants-animal-cruelty-abuse-circus/","name":"Why the Circus Is Saying Goodbye to Elephants"}}]}] ```