CLOSE Barnum's Animal Crackers have been around for 116 years and associated with the circus. Now that Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus is no more, the animals are being set free. Keri Lumm reports. Buzz60 
 
 Boxes of Nabisco's animal crackers no longer show cages. (Photo: Trent Musho) 
 
 After 116 years, animal crackers are no longer behind bars. 
 
 The packaging of Barnum's Animals, a classic Nabisco snack, doesn't depict the exotic creatures in cages anymore. Instead, a zebra, an elephant, a lion, a giraffe and a gorilla are out roaming among grass and trees. 
 
 The change comes at the urging of animal-rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who said that in April 2016 it pointed out to Nabisco's parent company, Mondelez International, that circuses often beat, shock, chain and whip animals to intimidate them into performing tricks. Other cruel practices include tearing baby animals away from their mothers and keeping animals in cages and chains, they said. 
 
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 "It's probably one of, if not the oldest, (product) in our portfolio," said Mondelez spokeswoman Kimberly Fontes. "We're always looking to see how to keep it modern, to keep it contemporary with customers." 
 
 Barnum's Animals has had its packaging refreshed before, she said. Plus, occasionally the snack's box has been revamped temporarily, such as for a World Wildlife Fund awareness campaign. The new cage-free packages are on store shelves now. 
 
 Fontes declined to say how much the packaging redesign cost the company. 
 
 The animal crackers' name isn't being changed. It's a reference to showman P.T. Barnum, whose name was long part of the most famous circus in U.S. history, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, billed as the "Greatest Show on Earth." 
 
 Ringling Bros. closed down in May 2017 after 146 years, citing high operating costs, legal fights with animal-welfare groups and declining ticket sales once the circus owners agreed to stop using elephants in the show, a concession to increasing legal and societal pressure opposed to the practice. 
 
 The old packages of Barnum's Animals showed the animals in cages. (Photo: Mondelez) 
 
 "The new box for Barnum's Animal Crackers perfectly reflects that our society no longer tolerates the caging and chaining of wild animals for circus shows," PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman said. "PETA is celebrating this redesign, just as we've celebrated the end of Ringling Bros. circus and the introduction of animal-circus bans across the U.S." 
 
 Even though the cage bars on the the front of the animal crackers box were small, some people pay close attention to packaging, said Bob Killian, a Chicago-based branding expert. 
 
 "They can't lose too much of the look and feel," he said. "What took them so long? There’s nobody’s who pro-cage, so I don’t see what they have to lose." 
 
 CLOSE An elephant died and four more are being treated for injuries after a circus truck accident on a major Spanish highway that provoked an outcry among animal rights defenders. Time 
 
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 After more than a century behind bars, the beasts on boxes of animal crackers are roaming free. 
 
 Mondelez International, the parent company of Nabisco, has redesigned the packaging of its Barnum's Animals crackers after relenting to pressure from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. 
 
 PETA, which has been protesting the use of animals in circuses for more than 30 years, wrote a letter to Mondelez in the spring of 2016 calling for a redesign. 
 
 "Given the egregious cruelty inherent in circuses that use animals and the public's swelling opposition to the exploitation of animals used for entertainment, we urge Nabisco to update its packaging in order to show animals who are free to roam in their natural habitats," PETA said in its letter. 
 
 Mondelez agreed and started working on a redesign. In the meantime, the crackers' namesake circus - Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey - folded for good. The 146-year-old circus, which had removed elephants from its shows in 2016 because of pressure from PETA and others, closed down in May 2017 due to slow ticket sales. 
 
 Kiichiro Sato / AP 
 
 The redesign of the boxes, now on U.S. store shelves, retains the familiar red and yellow coloring and prominent "Barnum's Animals" lettering. But instead of showing the animals in cages - implying that they're traveling in boxcars for the circus - the new boxes feature a zebra, elephant, lion, giraffe and gorilla wandering side-by-side in a grassland. The outline of acacia trees can be seen in the distance. 
 
 "When PETA reached out about Barnum's, we saw this as another great opportunity to continue to keep this brand modern and contemporary," said Jason Levine, Mondelez's chief marketing officer for North America, in a statement. 
 
 Mondelez is based in Illinois, which passed a statewide ban on circuses with elephants that went into effect in January. More than 80 U.S. cities have fully or partially banned circuses with wild animals, according to Animal Defenders International. 
 
 PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman says she's celebrating the box redesign for the cultural change it represents. 
 
 "The new box for Barnum's Animals crackers perfectly reflects that our society no longer tolerates the caging and chaining of wild animals for circus shows," she said. 
 
 Nabisco has been making Barnum's Animals crackers since 1902. It has redesigned its boxes before, but only for limited-time special editions. In 1995, it offered an endangered species collection that raised money for the World Wildlife Fund. In 1997, it offered a zoo collection that raised money for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. And in 2010, it worked with designer Lilly Pulitzer on a pastel-colored box that raised money for tiger conservation. 
 
 The company won't say how many boxes it sells each year. Canadian boxes already had a different design and aren't affected.
– We probably wouldn't want to see lions, elephants, and gorillas at the local zoo or circus busting out from behind bars, but on Nabisco's updated animal-cracker packaging, going cage-free has been deemed perfectly safe. USA Today reports the company has removed any depiction of cages on its boxes of Barnum's Animals snacks, after PETA complained to parent company Mondelez International in 2016 that circus animals are often mistreated. "When PETA reached out about Barnum's, we saw this as another great opportunity to continue to keep this brand modern," a Mondelez spokesman says, per CBS News. And PETA approves. "The new box … perfectly reflects that our society no longer tolerates the caging and chaining of wild animals for circus shows," says the group's executive VP. While Mondelez worked over the past two years to revamp its packaging, the namesake circus the crackers were based on, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey, closed down due to lagging ticket sales, shuttering its tents for good in May 2017.