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Circuses can be entertaining and wonder-filled without relying on confined, prodded and abused elephants. That’s long been the argument of animal welfare campaigners and elephant-free circuses.

Today, facing growing sentiment against elephant acts, Feld Entertainment, which owns the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, announced an end to the practice by 2018. Here’s what the company told the Associated Press:

The 13 elephants that are now part of the Ringling Bros. shows will be sent to the circus’ Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida by 2018, joining over 40 others. In a statement, Kenneth Feld, Chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment said “this is the most significant change we have made since we founded the Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation in 1995. When we did so, we knew we would play a critical role in saving the endangered Asian elephant for future generations, given how few Asian elephants are left in the wild . . .This decision was not easy, but it is in the best interest of our company, our elephants and our customers.”

It’s a shame this took so long, but it’s a creditable step toward treating animals with respect and dignity. (It’s only a step because the company is not ending its use of tigers, and abusive animal acts are still common, although policies in some countries are changing.)

There’s more in a news article in The Times.

That the decision was driven by changing attitudes of the circuses’ customers shows the value in informing consumers of the sometimes-hidden impacts of their choices and then building social campaigns to inspire companies to change their practices.

This is as true for palm oil, ivory and shark fins as it is here for elephant acts.

Our environmental policy students at Pace University last year joined the effort to end elephant abuse by creating a video concluding that “A Tamed Elephant is a Tortured Elephant.”

The goal of that video was to help pass legislation in New York that would keep out circuses traveling with exotic animals. The spread of such legislation elsewhere was a factor in Feld’s decision, company officials said.

Just in case you doubt the assertion above about the torture that is implicit in “training” a large, intelligent, free-roaming mammal, revisit this post by Pace students: “How Does a 170-Pound Man Control a 4-Ton Elephant? Meet the Bullhook.”

If you’re curious about how elephants became a circus icon, read this 2014 post from our student environmental policy blog, which will take you back to 1805, when Hachaliah Bailey, a farmer from Somers, N.Y., acquired an elephant. Yes, it’s the same Bailey who became a partner of P.T. Barnum.