Captive elephants in Thailand increase
A new report from charity World Animal Protection highlights the plight of captive elephants in Asia. The report shows that the number of elephants held in tourist attractions has risen, and that three in four elephants used to entertain tourists are held in cruel conditions
Over the past year we have carried some positive stories about animals in tourism, suggesting that awareness of animal welfare issues among both tourism companies and the public is rising. Last October, TripAdvisor announced that it would stop selling tickets for captive and endangered wild animal activities, while earlier this year Responsible Travel became the first travel company to withdraw any trips including visits to zoos, and Thomas Cook Group also stopped selling tickets to wildlife attractions that didn’t meet welfare standards.
But the latest report from World Animal Protection, released on 7 July, reveals that the captive elephant industry in Asia, in which elephants are kept for elephant rides and performances for tourists, continues to grow. The Taken for a ride report reveals that more than three quarters of nearly 3,000 elephants used for tourist entertainment in Asia are kept in severely-cruel conditions.
The charity investigated conditions endured by 2,923 elephants at tourist venues in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Laos and Cambodia, and found that 77% of them were “treated appallingly.” And conditions in Thailand were particularly concerning. Thailand has almost twice the number of elephants used for tourism as all the other Asian countries combined, and the number of elephants in tourism venues around Thailand has risen by 30 per cent since 2010.
This growth is associated with the continued growth of tourism in Thailand. The number of arrivals in Thailand doubled from 15.9 million to 32.6 million visitors between 2010 and 2016. According to World Animal Protection, several venues in Thailand cater to thousands of visitors daily, generating estimated profits of tens of thousands of dollars per month from exploiting Asian elephants – an endangered species. Forty per cent of tourists from the top 10 countries visiting Thailand said they had been or were planning to ride an elephant, equating to demand for about 12.8 million rides.
From some 220 Asian tourist venues surveyed, only 194 elephants at 13 venues were found to be living in "high welfare" captive conditions, where there are no rides or performances and elephants are able to walk freely for most of the day, eat natural vegetation and socialise with other elephants. The focus for tourists at these venues is on observing elephants in their natural environments.
In many of the other venues, elephants are kept in chains (usually less than three metres long), fed poor diets and given limited or no veterinary care. They are kept in stressful environments, such as near loud music, large groups of tourists or roads, and allowed little social interaction with other elephants.
There is some evidence for public awareness of the welfare aspects of animal captivity, with a 9% drop in the number of people who find elephant riding acceptable, compared to three years ago. But this still leaves 44% of people surveyed believing that elephant rides are acceptable, set against a background of the number of tourists overall rising at a faster rate than the decrease in the proportion of people who would ride an elephant.
Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach, WAP’s global wildlife and veterinary advisor, said:
“The cruel trend of elephants used for rides and shows is growing. We want tourists to know that many of these elephants are taken from their mothers as babies, forced to endure harsh training and suffer poor living conditions throughout their life.
“There is an urgent need for tourist education and regulation of wildlife tourist attractions worldwide. 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.”