Deborah Walk, assistant director of legacy and circus at The Ringling — circus impresario John Ringling's mansion, art and circus collection in Sarasota — said that the circus' impact on small town America is often overlooked. Asked whether the show would be the same without elephants, Feld replied, "No, it wouldn't." Feld Entertainment removed the elephants in 2016, sending all 40 of them to their Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida. Jeff and Carol Fouse of St. Louis, Missouri, toured the Ringling Circus Museum on a recent day. But come May, after almost a century and a half of spectacular revels, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will vanish, like a big, colorful, improbably long dream.

Source: ABC News January 15, 2017 14:04 UTC