It had help, but the animal rights movement won again

The animal rights movement celebrated a victory recently, when Feld Entertainment, owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, announced that the circus was no longer financially viable to operate, and would soon cease to exist.  The timing of it all just really struck me. Just a few weeks ago, my wife and I got to talking about how much fun we had when we took our oldest kids to the circus, back before our youngest was born. I also told her (again) about how much I loved it when my parents took my sister and I to see the circus when we were little. We discussed how we wanted our youngest child to be able to enjoy the same magic. Suddenly, taking him to see the circus just got a little more difficult. There will still be other circuses, but the most famous one, the one dubbed “The Greatest Show on Earth,” is going six feet under. It’s no secret that circuses aren’t as popular as they were in the 20th century. Gone are the days of “Circus of the Stars” on television, even though we can still cherish the memories of Loni Anderson walking on broken glass and the dude that played Carmine Ragusa on “Laverne & Shirley” being shot out of a cannon. But television, the internet, video games, increased emphasis on sports, and shorter attention spans made the circus less relevant as an entertainment option for families. I’m certain those low-lifes who dressed as clowns with the intent of harming children last fall didn’t help matters, either.  But also influential were the animal rights groups like HSUS and PETA.