Research overview: retirement of circus and entertainment felids

As public attitudes and laws have turned against using big cats in circuses, film and other entertainment, retiring these animals to lifetime care has become a significant welfare undertaking. This overview surveys the challenges of transitioning performing cats to retirement: adapting animals accustomed to confined transport cages and intensive human direction to spacious, naturalistic sanctuary enclosures; addressing the physical legacy of years of performance and travel; managing entrenched stereotypies and abnormal human-directed behaviour; and meeting the costs and capacity demands of permanent care. It discusses legislative bans on travelling animal acts, the role of sanctuaries in absorbing retirees, and welfare monitoring during transition. The synthesis frames entertainment-felid retirement as a large-scale, ongoing welfare rehabilitation effort.