Large, wild animals belong in the wild, not in a circus, aquarium or zoo – a point reinforced by events involving three prominent, unrelated institutions in the last couple weeks.

The most significant and widely publicized was Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’s surprise announcement that it would shut down this spring after 146 years on the road, due in large part, the owners say, to declining attendance following pressure from animal rights’ activists to remove elephants from under the big top.

A few days earlier, with far less fanfare, SeaWorld announced the death of Tilikum, a killer whale whose involvement in the deaths of three people eventually led the Florida aquarium to begin dismantling its controversial orca program.

Not long afterward a Western lowland gorilla named Colo died at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio, having spent her entire 60 years in captivity.

Let’s start with the circus. While I applaud the persistently effective campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other groups to eliminate the elephant act, I don’t celebrate shuttering the Greatest Show on Earth, which will put 400 people out of work. It’s a shame audiences couldn’t be satisfied simply by trapeze artists, tightrope walkers, fire-breathers, sword-swallowers, jugglers, clowns, daredevils shot from cannons and other human entertainers.

I last went to a circus more than 20 years ago, and after watching an elephant lumber pathetically around a ring and climb onto a stool while the trainer cracked a whip I decided I didn’t need to go back ever again.

Likewise, I fail to experience joy or inspiration from witnessing marine mammals and fish swimming in tanks, or animals pacing behind bars. Though I’m aware many aquariums and zoos support worthwhile wildlife research as well as animal rescue/rehabilitation/re-introduction programs, I wish these could be financed without making hapless creatures jump through hoops, prowl faux habitat or otherwise perform inanely for the amusement of herds of Homo sapiens.

Tilikum was just such an exploited entertainer, and in 2010 SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau learned the hard way that there’s a reason why they’re called killer whales. The 12,000-pound orca, which had been captured off the coast of Iceland 33 years earlier, grabbed Brancheau’s ponytail and dragged her underwater to her death in front of horrified onlookers at Shamu Stadium.

This public tragedy, followed in 2013 by the CNN documentary “Blackfish” that documented years of abuse at SeaWorld, led aquarium officials to announce last year it would phase out whale residency at its water parks. SeaWorld continues to house 22 orcas at aquariums in Orlando, Fla.; San Antonio, Texas; and San Diego, Calif., including 21 sired by Tilikum.

Colo the gorilla, meanwhile, also procreated in captivity and lived long enough to become a great-grandmother. A much-beloved fixture in Columbus she had the dubious distinction of being the world’s first gorilla born in a zoo.

By most accounts Colo seemed to welcome human contact; more than 3,000 people posted comments on the zoo’s Facebook page and shared fond memories of how she would state into the eyes of children and press her hands against the glass wall of her enclosure to “touch” human visitors.

The zoo called her “an ambassador for gorillas” who “inspired people to learn more about the critically endangered species.”

In my view what people really learned is that it’s possible to keep a captive animal alive as long as it receives adequate food, shelter and medical care – support than can’t be guaranteed in the wild. Nature isn’t pretty or sympathetic: Animals routinely starve, freeze, get sick and get eaten by other animals.

If Colo had been born in Cameroon rather than Columbus she would be lucky to live 30 or 40 years rather than 60. But would you welcome living to 120 if it meant lifelong incarceration?

Meanwhile, there are countless other “Colos” in captivity – the Western lowland gorilla is the most popular zoo gorilla species on the planet.

Likewise, SeaWorld and Ringling Bros. notwithstanding, there is no shortage of captive orcas or elephants, and never will be as long as humans are willing to view them in tanks, in cages or under circus tents.

Wild animals would be much better served by our preserving their habitat and curbing poaching, rather than by holding and breeding them in captivity. Come to think of it, we humans would be better off, too.