Gilbert Sape, the Asia Pacific Wildlife Campaign Manager.
Elephant ride tourist deaths in recent weeks have once again put the spotlight on the urgent need for Thais to stop using wildlife for entertainment purposes.
“The bottom line is that elephants are wild animals and should be kept in their natural habitat,” remarked Gilbert Sape, the Asia Pacific Wildlife Campaign Manager for World Animal Protection Thailand.
They launched the awareness campaign “Wildlife. Not Entertainers” in August last year to highlight the predicament facing not just Thailand but the region.
“Anyone who partakes in any form of entertainment which includes wildlife should realise that they are not just supporting the cruelty that is entrenched in this industry, but also putting their safety at risk,” said Sape.
“Raising awareness is a step forward, so tourists can make informed decisions and prioritise animal welfare while they travel. I do believe this is achievable, so we are encouraging them to view wild animals in the context of being in their natural habitat or in venues where their best interests are being met.”
He said the campaign’s core message is that a life in tourist entertainment is no life for a wild animal. People across the globe are beginning to realise that it is not cool to indulge in leisure activities that involve wildlife, with Dutch tour operators already making it clear to their clientèle that elephant trekking and getting up close and personal with lions was now a thing of the past.
For the Thais to eventually get around to realising the importance of safeguarding the interest of elephants and other wildlife in captivity, he said laws had to be implemented. Stepping up awareness programmes at grass roots levels can also be a start.
Research conducted by the World Animal Protection Thailand in 2011 and one that is to be completed in April this year, point to the bitter fact that captive wild animals continue to be exploited in Thailand’s tourism entertainment venues.
The surveys indicated that elephants are among the largest number of wildlife creatures that are put on the stage to perform, with the majority of such locations where they do perform offering elephant rides and elephant shows for the audience. It was also found that such destinations showcased an alarming number of captive tigers.
In the scale of animal suffering, it was found that in over half of the venues they visited which had elephants, tigers and macaques shows, over half of those with captive elephants and close to 90% of those with captive tigers and macaques did not meet the animals’ basic needs or interest.
Other key animal welfare concerns were that of extreme restraint suffered through being chained or caged, resulting in limited freedom to move as they would in the wild. Their movements were also restricted, due to cramped living conditions, offering them limited opportunity to naturally socialise with other animals.
“We have the science and data to support our understanding that wildlife are is being used for tourist entertainment at an alarming rate, while the level of cruelty is quite bothering,” remarked Sape, who has worked for two decades on various campaigns on environment protection, conservation, sustainable agriculture and other related issues. “What is striking is that people don’t see the connection between their love for animals and the cruelty involved in watching elephant shows. If you look at Trip Adviser you will notice that visitors give high marks for places which they find good. They don’t make reference to how they were entertained with animal abuse.
“The audience gives good reviews of where they are entertained, so if they are entertained it means the animals performed well and if those animals performed well they were trained well. If they are trained well there is certain level of cruelty involved in the training methods which can be both physical and emotional.”
As wild animals, elephants, in their natural habitat, would never allow humans to ride on their back or for that matter perform tricks for them, for instance walking on a tight rope. For them to do that, trainers have to break their spirit, said Sape. With the need to train them young, they are customarily poached from the wild and separated from their mothers at a young age and than subjected to very intensive types of training.
Thailand has the highest number of elephants in captivity involved in entertainment, currently reported to be at around 2,500 elephants. Sape said it was really a question of demand and supply and that World Animal Protection is addressing both these issues head on.
On the demand side, the organisation has launched a global education campaign, basically to tell tourists to be responsible and to recognise that you love animals and you want to touch them, but to be able to do that, there is cruelty involved in doing such. So far, they have received 700 thousand pledges from people across the globe saying that they will not ride an elephant.
On the supply side, Sape added that the organisation managed to convince close to 100 major travel operators and agencies around the world to stop selling elephant rides by signing pledges. Europe, North America and Australia showed a greater eagerness to participate in the campaign than other countries.
As for Thailand, Sape said he hopes to continue to engage everyone involved in this transition from using wild animals for tourist entertainment towards a more sustainable and animal friendly solution.
An elephant performs tightrope walking to entertain an audience.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.