Ringling Brothers elephants perform in their final show

On Sunday in Providence, Rhode Island, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus held its final performance with elephants.

Animal rights groups have been calling on the circus to discontinue the act for years, and originally, the elephants were going to be retired in 2018. "It's an end of an era that should have ended a long, long time ago," Elinor Molgebott with the Humane Society of New York told CBS News. "This is so unnatural for them. They shouldn't be subject to abuse."

Now, 11 elephants will be retired to Florida, where they will live at a 200-acre conservation center run by the owner of Ringling Brothers. The circus company has used elephants for the last 145 years, and said it will continue to showcase lions, tigers, horses, and kangaroos in animal acts. "It is a bittersweet decision, there is no question about that, but it is the best thing," said Kenneth Feld, chairman of the parent company who owns Ringling Brothers. "And we felt this was the right time to do it." More than 12 circuses continue to tour with elephants.

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