Last Saturday, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced it will fold up its tent after 146 years. The circus had come under fire for its use of animals but Gypsy Snider, who founded a ...

Elephant crew member Adria Cuellar pets a performing elephant before its final show for the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 1, 2016.

Senior elephant handler Ryan Henning checks the performing elephants before the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, April 29, 2016.

In the early 1800s, Hackaliah Bailey added the elephant “Old Bet” to his circus. P.T. Barnum added the African elephant he named “Jumbo” to “The Greatest Show on Earth” in 1882.

Poster for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The poster artwork is by Gustavo Novoa , a champion of ecology and wildlife preservation, who was commissioned to do the poster and programs ...

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephants walk from the trainyard to their winter quarters in Venice in this 1991 photo. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which organized many of ...

Chris O'Meara/AP After a six-year hiatus, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is set to return soon, but with one significant change: no animals. Showrunners announced on the Today show ...

One of Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus' performing elephants enters the arena for it's final show in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 1, 2016.ANDREW KELLY/Reuters ...