Like all Boston tourists, Kelli Ann, Bonnie and Karen came to eat on Hanover Street in the North End. Except these three huge Asian circus elephants would never make it in the door of a restaurant. Watermelon, vegetables and fresh North End bread were on the menu as part of the annual chowdown before the opening of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus at TD Garden. There was also dancing, little football catch and harmonica playing to the delight of the kids.
This is one of the last North End elephant brunches as Ringling Bros. will stop using elephants in the circus by 2018. Kelli Ann, Bonnie and Karen have a Florida retirement spot waiting for them at the Center for Elephant Conservation.
Many thanks to Becca Griffin (photos below) and Meghan Denenberg (above) for the action photos!
It’s sickening that circuses still use animals like this, and worse, that people go and patronize and support these spectacles. Elephants don’t belong on city sidewalks, crates, or circus tents. They don’t deserve a life of confinement and training by violent methods. I don’t understand how or why people celebrate this. Good that this will be “one of the last” elephant brunches.
Awwwww, they are so cute! I wish I could have been there to see them in person!
What a beautiful tradition. If not for this how could the children experience elephants. Wonderful tradition hope somehow it can continue. Job well done.
Better off in the Circus than being hunted and killed in the jungle for their ivory tusks and then their bodies left to rot.
I think that some people should direct their anger towards DCF and their incompetence in “protecting” children in this city & state instead of whining about 3 elephants having a buffet on Hanover St.