THE RINGLING BROS. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is back in Massachusetts without the roars and trumpets of wild animals, marking not only a change in business model for a longstanding entertainment brand but a turning point in public consciousness.

In a timely coincidence the decision on whether to use wild animals in traveling acts and shows has reached a decisive moment in the state with proposed legislation in the House of Representatives that would prohibit the use of elephants, big cats, primates, giraffes, and bears in traveling acts.

As the relaunch of Ringling Bros. without animals demonstrates, the bill’s alignment with public sentiment could not be clearer– it’s a reflection of society’s compassionate ethics and a stronger commitment to the welfare of wild animals.

This legislation works for Massachusetts: a 2022 poll found that two-thirds of our state’s voters favor a ban on exotic animal acts. This isn’t mere sentiment; it’s a strong call for action.

The issue hits close to home for Massachusetts residents, as the sad case of Beulah makes clear. Beulah, an Asian elephant born in the wild in Myanmar, found herself far from the life nature intended. Captured and sold to a petting zoo at the tender age of 6, she endured over 40 years of giving rides to fairgoers only to collapse and die in 2019 at The Big E in West Springfield from a painful uterine infection.

Since her death, The Big E has continued to thrive. In 2022, the fair set a record with 1,603,354 attendees, the highest attendance in its history. In 2023, the fair continued to break daily attendance records despite it being the rainiest year in more than three decades. The surging attendance that has made The Big E a record-breaking success in the absence of elephants is another marker of changing public tastes.

In the end, this is a case in which our public policy has some catching up to do with the marketplace of consumer demand. The legislation pending on Beacon Hill dealing with elephants, big cats, primates, giraffes, and bears isn’t just about aligning with the moral instincts of Massachusetts residents; it’s about affirming that Massachusetts itself leads with compassion, by affirming that human entertainment need never require or justify the confinement and coercion of wild animals.

The groundswell of public opinion is understandable given the grim reality for the animals involved, one of cramped confinement, unnatural physical demands under the threat of punishment, severed social bonds, and the use of pain-inducing implements like bullhooks, all hallmarks of an antiquated and increasingly scorned industry.

As the House Committee on Ways and Means considers this legislation, let us remember that it represents our evolving consciousness and understanding that true wonder and amusement are derived not through supremacy over nature, but in harmonious coexistence with it.

At the Ringling Bros. shows that just wrapped in Boston and now open in Worcester, we can see it in captivated spectators cheering human performers who dazzle with their talents of remarkable human feats, not with the sad display of dispirited wild animals performing confusing tricks under the fear of punishment.

Preyel Patel is the Massachusetts state director for The Humane Society of the United States.