Ringling Owner Admits Elephants Are Hit. The head of the company that owns the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus acknowledged in federal court today that all his elephant handlers strike the animals with metal-tipped prods, but he said it’s necessary to keep the huge animals under control and doesn’t harm them. Feld Entertainment Chairman/Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Feld said the circus probably couldn’t have elephants without the prods — called bull hooks — and chains that are a