The safety of elephants has long been a debate among people who operate circuses and those who oppose them.
Now the best known circus of all is dropping elephant acts from its shows. Ringling Brothers circus owners will eliminate all elephant acts by 2018, after years of protest from animal rights activists. Some cities and counties have passed anti-circus and anti-elephant ordinances, making it difficult to perform there. The owners say instead of continuing to fight this, they've decided to pull the elephants from the shows.
The 13 elephants that are on tour will retire to their Center for Elephant Conservation located in Florida by 2018.