In this Friday, Jan. 8, 2016 photo, a young Asian elephant named April belonging to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, plays with tires in her enclosure outside the American Airlines Arena in Miami. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is ending its elephant acts a year and a half early, and […]

CENTRAL FLORIDA – The last 11 of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ touring elephants are officially retired, and enjoyed a buffet brunch of carrots, apples, celery, loaves of bread and lots of hay to celebrate.

Circus spokesman Stephen Payne said the touring elephants arrived at the 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation in central Florida on Friday morning.

They join 29 others who are already at the center.

Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus, has a herd of 40 Asian elephants, the largest in North America. It will continue a breeding program and the animals will be used in a pediatric cancer research project.

Elephants have been used in that iconic circus in America for more than 200 years.(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)