Does a circus without elephants have a future?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/05/living/feat-circus-elephants/index.html

For many years, elephants have been a huge part of the circus atmosphere. However, on Thursday, March 5th, the Ringling brothers announced they will be retiring all elephants as of 2018. In the meantime, elephant usage will decrease drastically. People have been debating whether or not the loss of elephants will have a decline on circus attraction. In recent years, animal rights activists have increasingly protested against the use of performing animals such as elephants and killer whales, demanding better treatment of them.

This article relates to our AP Gov class because animal rights/animal abuse is a common topic in politics. Everyone has a different opinion of how animals used for public entertainment should be treated. There are many laws about animal abuse but fortunately, there has never been proven evidence of abuse in the circus environment.

In my opinion, I think it is sad they are retiring the elephants. I have not been to the circus in awhile, but the elephants were always my favorite part. I think the Ringling Brothers should reconsider this because I think it will have a decline on how many people attend the circus. No one is forcing them to retire the animals so I don't see why they feel the need to. If they treat the animals fairly, why cant they stay in the circus?