WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP -- After nearly 150 years, it's the final curtain call for elephants with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
“I said, are you ready for the greatest show on earth?” yelled the barker into the crowd at Mohegan Sun Arena.
That phrase can only mean one thing; the circus is back in town.
“It's absolutely wonderful to see all the performers and the costumes and the acts. It's just fantastic. We're so thrilled to be here today,” said Julia Ott from Lehighton.
“It's going to be awesome. It's already fun and we just got here,” said Joey from Shenandoah.
“We've been doing this for about 16 years straight now, so we never miss it every year it's here,” said Jared Samuel who brought his children from Dallas.
But for one group of animals, and quite possibly the circus's most popular ones, this run at the arena is where Ringling's famous elephants will take a final bow, after 145 years on tour.
The pachyderms are being retired to the Ringling Brothers Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida.
“The elephants, this is their last time touring. I had to come. I haven't been since I was a little kids. I had to be here one more time,” said Ott.
“It's the last year for the elephants, and I'd like her to see them,” said Shelly Smith who brought her 5-year-old daughter from Moscow.
Frank and Angela Mattern drove two hours from McClure to see the elephants.
“Our son is two and he's so excited to see the elephants since it will be the last show that the elephants do in a circus. We wanted to make sure that he made it,” said Angela.
Ringling says it's pulling the elephants from the tour mainly due to communities banning bull-hooks, the equipment used to guide the large animals.
“We find it's been more and more difficult to travel to city to city where politicians are caving in to political pressure from the extremists, and it's making it harder and harder to care for our animals the way they need to be cared for, for elephants,” said Ryan Henning, the Assistant Elephant Manager at Ringling.
While the beautiful beasts will be missed, some believe retiring them is the right thing to do.
“Well they deserve to be free, you know?” said Ed Column from Wilkes-Barre Township. “So it's time.”
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus runs through Sunday.
