Charleston will be one of the last cities where Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey features its famous elephant acts.
The touring circus show will perform eight shows from April 21 to 24 at the Charleston Civic Center with its Asian elephants before their final acts in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and Providence, Rhode Island, the following week. Elephants will be completely phased out of the circus's performances in May - a year and a half earlier than expected.
The circus's parent company, Feld Entertainment, announced last year that it would retire the elephants by 2018 and relocate them to the company's Center for Elephant Conservation, in central Florida. On Monday, it was reported that the circus will end all elephant acts four months from now.
Feld Entertainment spokesman Stephen Payne said that after analyzing the space, pasture and water supply of the 200-acre conservation center, "we came to the conclusion that we could do this sooner than 2018." The center currently holds 29 elephants.
A contributing factor in the company's decision last year stemmed from increased public scrutiny on circus elephant acts. Major cities, such as Los Angeles, have prohibited the use of bull hooks, a long hooked stick used to train elephants.
Payne said the company found such ordinances to be "completely unnecessary. . . but we couldn't leave the elephants at the city limits."
Despite some opposition to using circus elephants, Payne contended that the practice has never affected the shows' ticket sales, nor does he believe that retiring them will cause a decrease.
"[The circus] is 145 years old," he said, "and it's survived that long."
The company also is planning new additions to its circus, to make up for the elephants' absence. Payne wouldn't give details on what those changes would include.
Civic Center General Manager John Robertson said Monday that the circus act has become "a staple in our annual list of events," and it's been coming to Charleston since before he began working at the Civic Center 38 years ago, he added.
Despite the last hurrah for the circus's largest performers, Robertson said he expects that Ringling will still return to the city in coming years.
"That's a very creative organization and [has] lots of attractions beyond elephants," Robertson said, "I'm sure they'll come up with dynamic things to fill in the gaps."
The multiple performances during the circus's annual visit bring in roughly 40,000 people, he said, including many who travel from out of state to see the "The Greatest Show on Earth."
But even Charleston has experienced protests by some who find the use of circus elephants inhumane. Over the past few years, Robertson said, there have been "small expressions of protests or picketing at some of the events."
As it stands now, the Pachyderm Picnic, hosted by Charleston Town Center mall, will be held one last time while the circus is in town, said Lisa McCracken, the Town Center's marketing director. The event shuts down Clendenin Street, to accommodate onlookers who can watch the elephants munch on fruits, bread and vegetables in between shows.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.