Elephants
are being exploited to entertain tourists in south-east Asia, and kept in harsh
conditions, says a new report from an animal rights NGO
Thousands of elephants being used for
entertainment across Asia are kept in cruel, abusive conditions fuelled by the
growing tourism industry, World Animal Protection has found.
Three
out of four elephants surveyed in south-east Asia’s popular tourist
destinations are living in harsh conditions where they are being used for
rides, with mostly steel or wooden saddles, and tied in chains less than three
metres long.
The
scale of suffering experienced by elephants is “severe”, according to the
animal rights NGO which assessed almost 3,000 elephants living in 220 venues in
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and India between mid 2014 and
late 2016.
The
majority of captive elephants are taken from the wild, where just 50,000 remain
in Asia. Animal rights groups say elephants are made to submit to humans by
going through a process known as “the crush” – where baby elephants are taken
from their mothers and forced into a training process that, at its worst, can
include being restrained in a pen and beaten for several weeks.
At
least 77% of the captive elephants surveyed in the report, which was released
on 6 July, are chained day and night when not being used for entertainment
purposes and experienced very little social interaction with other elephants.
The animals are fed poor diets, have no access to proper veterinary care and
are often exposed to stressful environments with loud music and a large number
of tourists.
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Elephants
used for entertainment in Thailand in 2016.
These
conditions go against elephants’ most basic needs. Elephants are intelligent,
socially developed animals, which form complex hierarchies within herds. But in
captivity elephants are forced to unnaturally submit to humans; they have been
found to live shorter lives, experience behavioural problems, are more likely
to develop chronic diseases and are less likely to reproduce.
The
captive elephant population is now thought to make up one-quarter to one-third
of the remaining elephants in the region.
Despite
conservation efforts, Thailand has seen a 30% increase in elephant
entertainment venues – from circus performances to riding or bathing with
elephants. As many as 40% of tourists from the top 10 countries visiting
Thailand said they had been on or were planning to do an elephant ride, which
translates as a demand for around 12.8 million elephant rides in the country,
according to the report.
Secret
footage obtained of the wild elephants sold into captivity in Chinese zoos
Read more
This
coincides with the growing number of foreign visitors to Thailand which reached
32.6 billion last year – a rise of 9% from 2015.
Elephant
tourism remains popular because it can be “a hidden form of cruelty”, said
Chiara Vitali, a wildlife expert at World Animal Protection. The process of the
crush “will happen before any tourist sees an elephant, so they might see an
animal that’s quite chilled out – but it had that beaten into it when it was an
infant”, she said.
The
organisation believes the best place for captive elephants are genuine
sanctuaries, where the animals can roam free, bond and have their herd
structure – and where tourists can see the elephants in a respectful way.
“There
is an urgent need for tourist education and regulation of wildlife tourist
attractions worldwide,” said Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach, global wildlife and
veterinary advisor at World Animal Protection.
“Venues
that offer tourists a chance to watch elephants in genuine sanctuaries are beacons
of hope that can encourage the urgently needed shift in the captive elephant
tourism industry.”
Another
report released this week on 4 July found an obscure Chinese town to be at the
centre of an ivory smuggling trade network, exposing weaknesses in China’s
domestic ivory ban which came into place in March 2017.
The
Environmental Investigation Agency spent three years investigating the town of
Shuidong, and found it to be home to a network of ivory trafficking syndicates
reaching east and west Africa, according to the EIA. The group’s influence
extended to the poaching hotspots of Tanzania and Mozambique.
Researchers
say the smuggling group was still active as of late June 2017, describing
Shuidong as the world’s largest hub for ivory trafficking.
“What
EIA discovered in Shuidong ... clearly shows transnational criminal networks
are operating with near-total impunity,” said Mary Rice, EIA executive
director. “It is vital that enforcement agencies in Africa and China put these
criminals out of business immediately.”
FROM THE DESK OF ANIMAL RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/06/thousands-elephants-exploited-tourism-held-cruel-conditions
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