As a child I often visited my Dad in NYC. One of our favorite outings was to see the Ringling Brothers Circus at Madison Square Garden. I remember the lumbering elephants, foo-foo dogs, clowns in tiny cars and sparkly acrobats swinging on ropes and walking the tightrope. Tigers in cages! Bears in tutus! Hot dogs, peanuts to eat! We tried not to look when the animal trainers jabbed the wild beasts with sharp poles or smacked them with their hand. Even at a young age, I sensed that using magnificent animals in circus shows was creepy.

I never took my son to see a circus. I had long ago decided that use of caged animals was more than creepy, it was unethical. Dog fighting and cock-fighting was illegal, why was the use of magnificent (now endangered) elephants in a circus was okay? In my opinion, the circus thing seemed barbaric and reminiscent of the old gladiator fights in the Roman Colosseum.

So, this morning when I read that Ringling Brothers will remove –by 2018– elephants from the show, I was happy.  No matter that the decision was  consumer-driven and not a kind act by the circus execs. Ringling Brothers issued this statement: 

“Certain cities have passed anti-circus or anti-elephant ordinances making it difficult to fight the legislation and plan tours around the laws. While the circus will still feature some animals, it will also supplement the show with motor sports, dare devils, and human shows.

“There’s been somewhat of a mood shift among our consumers,” Alana Feld, the company’s executive vice president told the AP. “A lot of people aren’t comfortable with us touring with our elephants.”

Well, they got that right and I am thankful for the change regardless of the motive. I still have my childhood memories of a bygone era and this generation of kids will have memories of their own, cruelty-free adventures.