BANGOR, Maine — A local photographer who was called to testify in Washington, D.C., about an emaciated circus elephant he documented in Bangor several years ago was pleased this week to hear that elephants will be phased out of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Jeff Kirlin took photographs of Ned, an Asian elephant he originally thought was just “narrow,” at Bangor’s Anah Shrine Circus in 2008. In fact, Ned was sick and emaciated to being about 2,000 pounds underweight, and Kirlin’s photographs led to his being issued a subpoena last fall by the United States Department of Agriculture. The photographer traveled to Washington to talk about his pictures of Ned at a hearing to determine whether the elephant’s handler had acted in violation of the Animal Welfare Act. The handler was found in violation and his license revoked.
“After my involvement with the case of Ned, I learned that, healthy or not, there is simply no way elephants can be kept in captivity,” Kirlin said in an email Friday. “Elephants in the wild walk up to 50 miles per day. Elephants are not tamed. They are trained captives.”
On Thursday, the parent company of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that it will eliminate its elephant acts by 2018. The 13 Asian elephants used in its traveling shows will live at the company’s 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation in central Florida after they are retired over the next three years, according to Feld Entertainment.
In recent years, elephant acts have been criticized by animal rights’ groups and scrutinized by the federal government. The company said that the move was in response to changes in consumer preferences and the legislative landscape and would allow it to focus on its conservation efforts for the endangered species, according to Reuters.
The president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said this week that the circus should phase out the elephants from performances now and not wait until 2018.
According to the website for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the closest the current tour will come to Maine is Providence, Rhode Island.
Larry Hersom of the Anah Shrine Circus said Friday that it has been at least seven years since elephants last performed at their Bangor event.
Kirlin said his opinions about circus elephants really changed as he learned more about Ned. After he posted photographs online of the elephant carrying local children and chained up to a big green metal trash bin outside the Bangor Civic Center, animal lovers and elephant advocates saw them and were outraged. In November 2008, the USDA, which regulates animals exhibited to the public, seized Ned from his owner and brought the animal to live at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. Ned died there a few months later despite efforts to nurse the elephant back to health.
Reuters contributed to this report.