After 90 years, elephants are being removed from the Hadi Shrine Circus. WNIN’s John Gibson has the story:
The Hadi Shrine says its circus committee made the decision to begin the next decade and beyond without the inclusion of the circus’s pachyderms.
The shrine says the decision did not come lightly.
Officials say with great respect to the animals, “we believe the time is right to retire the elephants from the Hadi Shrine Circus.”
The animals will continue to live at the Endangered Ark Foundation in Oklahoma, a non-profit dedicated to caring for and preserving the second largest population of Asian elephants in North America.
In recent years, protesters marched outside the circus calling for an end to elephant acts for the well-being of the animals.
The shrine says it’s taking a new look at its three ring circus and plans to start a new decade with new acts.