Animal Abuse in South-East Asia

Animal rights laws are not yet reinforced strongly in many south-east Asian countries. Going to Phuket Zoo with my students turned into quite a traumatizing experience for me (lucky the kids were young enough not to realize how poorly the animals’ conditions were). Attractions such as animal shows are popular all over the world and Thailand is no exception.  

Elephants are a large part of Thailand's tourist business, and the mistreatment of elephants for tourist attractions is unfortunately very common. As a foreigner arriving in Thailand, one of the most iconic things I had on my to-do list was to go elephant trekking. I did it twice and got amazing photos which made the envy of my Facebook friends. To be honest, apart from the initial thrill, I didn’t really enjoy sitting on the huge magnificent creatures and seeing first hand their bleeding ears from where their trainer pulls them with his metal hook. It didn’t feel right.

There's a dark side to riding elephants in Thailand

It wasn’t until I went to Chiang Mai’s Elephant Nature Park that I found out the hard truth about elephants’ mistreatment. Indeed, I learned how they are cruelly trained under captivity. ‘’Breaking’’ an elephant to accept a person on its back is no small task and doesn’t happen overnight. After many days of torture in a tiny cage, the elephant is forced to learn to respond to certain calls from its mahout (trainer).

Elephant begging is still common on the streets of Bangkok. The mahouts walk around and get tourists to buy bananas or take a photo with an elephant for a small fee. The poor creatures are visibly distressed under the conditions of the big city.

Feeding an elephant in Chiang Mai's Elephant Nature Park

Many other illegal animal products are sold throughout Thailand. It has often saddened me to see rare and endangered species sold at markets for pets. Gibbons and slow lorises are often used as a photo opportunity for uninformed tourists. Their owners drag them around beaches or busy nightclubs and charge money to take pictures with them. These precious species are not meant to be pets, they should be protected. In captivity, their life expectancy is greatly reduced, their teeth are often filed down or removed and their sleeping patterns changed.

Then, there are the controversial Tiger Kingdoms which are starting to pop all over Thailand. People who have gone are all convinced the animals aren’t drugged because of the signs claiming so in the attraction park. I personally can’t believe that huge predators such as tigers would allow tourists to pull their tails and cuddle them for hours on end if they weren’t drugged.

I don’t think tourists mean harm, but they are uninformed and unknowingly contributing to animal endangerment and abuse. If you are travelling in a country with such attractions, please don’t support them and spread the word to fellow travellers. There are many well-reputed zoos and conservation parks to visit instead.

In Phuket, visit the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project http://www.gibbonproject.org/. In Chiang Mai, Elephant Nature Park www.elephantnaturepark.org/.