Photo 1, Kelly Miller Circus, May 2009
Courtesy of R Easley
Courtesy of R Easley
Photo 2, Kelly Miller Circus, May 2009
Courtesy of R Easley
Courtesy of R Easley
Photo 3, Kelly Miller Circus, May 2009
Courtesy of R Easley
Courtesy of R Easley
Photo 4, Kelly Miller Circus, May 2009
Courtesy of R Easley
Courtesy of R Easley
Photo 5, Kelly Miller Circus, May 2009
Courtesy of R Easley
Courtesy of R Easley
Hey Ryan -
ReplyDeleteseems to me based off of everything that I see puplished is that there are not to many circuses that have their own elephants- except for the big guys - RBBB and Carson-
Do u think since Asians are pretty much out of the question these days to get ahold of - that circuses will switch over to africians ?
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment. You are correct; there are only a handful of circuses that own their own elephants. Other shows lease their elephants from private owners or other industry facilities.
Acquiring African elephants by the circus industry is as out of the question as Asian elephants are, as you state in your inquiry. It took years of time and millions of dollars for the zoo field to import the group of African elephants that were to be culled almost a decade ago.
Although a dozen captive births thus far in the United States can be attributed to the original group of 11 elephants from Swaziland, it seems unlikely another effort is underway to bring in more elephants in a similar manner. This is despite a large number of facilities building larger, multi-million dollar enclosures for their current collection and also searching for more elephants to fill these exhibits.
The continuation of Asian elephants in the circus will only be continued via captive breeding programs in the industry, successful only with the Carson and Barnes Circus facility "Endangered Ark Foundation" and Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus facility "Center for Elephant Conservation." These two locations are the only circus-related facilities with breeding males.
Hello, I am curious about the number of elephants that both Ringling and CB have. I would appreciate knowing the numbers or a educated guess of both.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Jeff Swanson
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteCarson and Barnes owns 27 between their performing herds and retired/breeding group at the Endangered Ark Foundation in Oklahoma.
I believe Ringling owns 53 in three locations - performing on the Red and Blue units and at the Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida.