THE ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM

Don't look now, but the tide is turning on the issue of circus elephants. The common sense notion that these large, sentient, noble animals do not belong in metropolitan "entertainment" venues has gained enough traction that Ringling chief Kenneth Feld had to pay off Massachusetts legislators to keep an "exotic animal ban" from passing in that state. But the ban has been proposed again, and it will eventually pass, as the basic information about the cruelty elephants suffer at the hands of circuses gets out to more and more people. Meanwhile, Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus seems to have quietly ditched their elephant acts completely - at least for now: "That seems to be the flashpoint of the animal rights movement. So we decided to go on tour this year without them and see how the public accepts it." Yes, let's see.