Circuses That Still Have Animals in 2024
Since the 1800s, circuses have made a spectacle out of sensitive, intelligent animals, including elephants, tigers, and bears. While forward-thinking shows have gone animal-free, some traveling circuses still have animals in 2024.
Keep reading to find out which circuses still have animal acts and what you can do for animals used in entertainment.
Circuses That Still Have Animals in 2024
1. Carden International Circus
The Carden Circus still uses several animals in its acts, including elephants, horses, camels, dogs, and small cats. It’s drawn fierce criticism for failing to meet the minimum standards under the federal Animal Welfare Act.
Federal authorities have slapped Carden with numerous citations, including for failing to provide adequate nutrition or space to tigers, failing to provide adequate veterinary care, failing to have safe enclosures for animals, and failing to provide animals with sufficient space.
At least two elephants exhibited by Carden have tested positive for tuberculosis (TB), which can be transmitted to humans, and multiple jurisdictions have barred Carden from exhibiting elephants due to the potential risk of spreading TB.
Read PETA’s Carden International Circus factsheet.
2. Carson & Barnes Circus
This circus still leases elephant acts to other circuses, including Jordan World Circus, which force them to perform unnatural, confusing tricks in front of crowds.
Carson & Barnes has been cited for more than 100 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including for failing to provide elephants and other animals with necessities such as adequate veterinary care, the minimum required space, shelter from the elements, and clean water.
It also owns the Endangered Ark Foundation, a roadside zoo in Oklahoma that masquerades as an elephant sanctuary. The facility breeds, trains, and warehouses elephants for circus acts. It also charges visitors for encounters with the elephants, a dangerous interaction that no reputable sanctuary would offer.
Read PETA’s Carson & Barnes Circus factsheet.
3. Franzen Bros. Circus
Even after a tiger attacked and killed Franzen Bros. founder Wayne Franzen in front of a crowd in 1997, the circus chose to keep using animals in its shows.
Wayne’s son, Brian Franzen, still exhibits animal acts today under the Franzen Bros. Circus name, forcing a lone elephant named Okha to perform for circuses such as The Mysterious Circus and various Shrine circuses.
He was convicted of depriving animals of care after authorities confiscated several emaciated ponies from a filthy trailer. Having repeatedly failed to meet the minimum federal standards of care for exhibiting animals, it’s clear that Franzen shouldn’t be trusted around animals—period.
Read PETA’s Franzen Bros. Circus factsheet.
4. Jordan World Circus
Jordan World Circus still uses elephants, camels, bison, and ponies in its performances. It leases animal acts from Carson & Barnes and other suppliers that have been repeatedly cited for mistreating animals.
Infamously, an elephant named Viola escaped her weapon-wielding handler at the Jordan World Circus in April 2024, endangering herself and humans in Butte, Montana. This was her third time escaping. Dangerous escapes are not uncommon in circuses, and animals frequently make desperate bids for freedom.
Read PETA’s Jordan World Circus factsheet.
5. Loomis Bros. Circus
Loomis Bros. Circus still uses elephants, tigers, zebras, camels, ponies, and other animals in its shows. It hires exhibitors known for abusing animals, including Tarzan Zerbini, Brian Franzen, and Brunon Blaszak.
Learn more about Loomis Bros. Circus.
6. Tarzan Zerbini Circus
The Tarzan Zerbini Circus is a traveling show that still uses elephants in its acts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cited Tarzan Zerbini numerous times under the federal Animal Welfare Act, and multiple elephants exhibited by this circus have tested positive for TB, including one who died from it.
Two Tails Ranch is a roadside zoo in Florida run by Patricia Zerbini, Tarzan Zerbini’s daughter. It warehouses elephants that Tarzan’s circus is not currently dragging around the country, and it has received federal citations for its shoddy enclosures and failing to have a perimeter fence to prevent intrusion.
Read PETA’s Tarzan Zerbini Circus and Two Tails Ranch factsheet.
7. Shrine Circuses
Shrine circuses are hosted by Shrine clubs and perform dozens of shows across the U.S. every year. Some of these circuses still hire seedy exhibitors to provide them with animals despite backlash from the communities they perform in.
The elderly elephants Shrine circuses force to perform suffer immensely. Exhibitors control them through violence, compelling them to live in constant fear, and deny them everything important that a life in nature could provide, like opportunities to forage for food and bathe in rivers.
Shriners International, the governing body for Shrine clubs, refuses to ban animal acts from its member temples despite knowing of the rampant abuse that many exhibitors inflict on animals.
Read PETA’s factsheet on Shrine circuses.
8. Culpepper & Merriweather Circus
The USDA suspended Culpepper & Merriweather Circus’ exhibitor’s license for six months following a finding that it had demonstrated a “shockingly cavalier attitude regarding the health and safety of animals,” had no attending veterinarian, and didn’t provide animals with adequate nutrition.
Read PETA’s Culpepper & Merriweather Circus factsheet.
Do Any Circuses Still Have Elephants?
Yes, several circuses still exploit elephants, including Carden Circus, Jordan World Circus, and Loomis Bros. Circus.
All the elephants who circus shows use today are elderly and victims of kidnapping. Animal traffickers snatched them from their natural homes and families in Asia when they were just babies, shipped them to the U.S., and forced them to perform.
Circuses That Don’t Have Animals
Many circuses in the U.S. understand that leaving cruel, dangerous animal acts in the past allows them to bring their human performances to new heights. Here are just a few of them:
- Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus went on hiatus in 2017, ditched animal acts, and returned in 2023 with an all-human roster.
- UniverSoul Circus went animal-free in 2023 after PETA had targeted it for decades.
- Circus Vargas no longer uses animals in its traveling big-top show.
- Bindlestiff Family Cirkus is a hybrid of vaudeville, burlesque, and sideshow that travels the world.
- Circus Center trains San Francisco Bay Area youth for circus acts.
Visit PETA’s shortlist of animal-free circuses to find thrilling, compassionate groups.
How to Help Animals in Circuses
The elephants, tigers, and other animals used in circuses don’t stand on their heads, jump through hoops, or balance on pedestals because they want to.
They do it because they’re afraid of what will happen if they don’t.
Fortunately, it’s easy to help the animals exploited by circus exhibitors. Learn more about how circuses harm animals, and never go to a circus that uses them.
Then take a quick action for the animals abused in Shrine circuses by urging the Shrine clubs that host them to stop and calling on Shriners International to ban animal acts altogether.
