question:  Why was the Circus is danger of closing?
context: The Blue Behemoth By LEIGH BRACKETT Shannon's Imperial Circus was a jinxed space-carny leased for a mysterious tour of the inner worlds. It made a one-night pitch on a Venusian swamp-town—to find that death stalked it from the jungle in a tiny ball of flame. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories May 1943. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] With Shannon's Imperial Circus, the Greatest Show in Space, plastered so thick with attachments...." "The Greatest Show in Space. I've wet-nursed Shannon's Imperial Circus around the Triangle for eleven years, and I know. It's lousy, it's mangy, it's broken-down! Nobody insults Buckhalter Shannon's Imperial Circus to Buckhalter Shannon's face unless he's tired and wants a long rest in a comfy fracture-frame. It was the most complete dead-pan I ever met, and you couldn't see into those innocent blue eyes any more than you could see through sheet metal. It has always been my desire to lighten the burden of life for those less fortunate...." He went on, quietly, "I have always held that entertainment, of the right sort, is the most valuable aid humanity can have in its search for the alleviation of toil and boredom...." "There are many towns along the Venusian frontiers where no entertainment of the— proper sort has been available. It was Gow, our zoo-man—a big, ugly son-of-a-gun from a Terran colony on Mercury. The only other one on the Triangle belongs to Savitt Brothers, and she's much smaller than Gertrude." I only hoped she wouldn't die on us, because without her we'd have a sicker-looking circus than even I could stand. The extreme rarity of the animal...." I said tactfully, "We'd have to have at least a hundred U.C.'s."
output:  They were out of money and out of options.
options:  They lacked impressive skills now that more of their kind had surfaced.  They were out of money and out of options.  They were no longer able to manage the lot of animals they had acquired.  They were too inebriated to be coherent.