In 1990, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to Daly City, California, for a series of shows at the Cow Palace. On opening night, circus-goers were greeted outside the arena by animal rights activists who handed out leaflets accusing Ringling of abusing its exotic stars. Later, during an intermission of the show, three activists dressed as clowns chained themselves to a high-wire support rope on the main stage and shouted slogans. “Circus workers used bolt cutters to snip the protesters’ chains,” according to a report at the time. “The clowns were taken to the San Mateo county jail and booked on suspicion of trespassing, disturbing the peace and conspiracy.”

Ringling Bros. has been hounded by such activists for at least the last three decades of the its 146-year history. While the Cow Palace protesters came from In Defense of Animals and Berkeley Students for Animal Liberation, the circus has been a top target of powerful animal-rights organizations like PETA and the Animal Legal Defense Fund. These groups all shared a single goal: to shut down Ringling. “These animals have suffered so much to make Ringling money,” said Delcianna Winders, vice president of the PETA Foundation. “Our hope has always been that these animals would be rescued.”

They got their wish in January, when the circus announced that it was folding up its tent for good. The circus had already retired its elephants a few months beforehand, but its total shutdown appeared to mean retirement for the circus’s big cats, too—specifically, eight tigers, six lions, and one leopard. As activists saw it, this meant the cats would not longer endure bright lights, roaring crowds, inhumane living conditions, and the obligation to perform. In other words: a new life for the eight endangered tigers, of which there are only 3,200 left in the world, and for the lions and leopard, which are listed as threatened species. “It felt like after this long struggle, we had finally achieved our objective,” said Anthony Eliseuson, an attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

Not quite. Last month, Ringling’s parent company, Feld Entertainment, filed an application with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), asking for a permit to export all 15 cats to a German circus. The application kicked off a furious debate: More than 100,000 comments have been posted on the Federal Register website, most begging the FWS not to grant the permit. “Please let them live out the rest of their lives in peace,” read one. “Abusing and misusing animals for entertainment is unconscionable,” read another.



While many objectors are merely concerned about the fate of the eight captive-born tigers, this debate is about a much bigger concern: the commodification of endangered species in America. Why would government allow the export of endangered animals in the U.S. to companies overseas? Isn’t that exactly what the Endangered Species Act is supposed to prevent? The above commenters won’t like the answer.