On May 21, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will perform for the very last time, ending a 146-year run. As of this writing, you can still buy tickets on the Internet for some of the final shows at various East Coast venues. The Ringling website also features a photo of a dazzlingly costumed female performer perched on the hooked trunk of an elephant—which is odd, because you won’t be seeing any elephants at any of those final shows. The pachyderms gave their last performance on May 1, 2016, retiring more than a year before the rest of the circus thanks to more than three decades of pickets, protests, videos, outraged letters, and lawsuits on the part of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA takes single-handed credit for shutting down Ringling Bros. for good—although dwindling ticket sales owing to entertainment competition are a more obvious cause.