Elephants Perform at Ringling Bros. Circus for Last Time

(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) — Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus bid farewell to its performing elephants on Sunday, as the show closed its own chapter on a practice that has entertained audiences in America for two centuries but has come under fire by animal rights activists.

"This is a very emotional time for us," Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson told the crowd as the performance came to an end in Providence, Rhode Island, on Sunday.