Study slams “cruel” animal tourist attractions
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A new study has revealed that three quarters of wildlife tourist attractions involve some form of animal abuse or conservation concerns.
The report, which was conducted by the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and commissioned by World Animal Protection, asserts that “at least 550,000 wild animals” are suffering at the hands of tourist attractions around the world.
Wildlife tourist activities cited by the report as being cruel to animals include riding elephants, taking photos with tigers, visiting bear parks, handling sea turtles, performing dolphins, dancing monkeys, touring civet cat coffee plantations, charming snakes and farming crocodiles.
“It’s clear that thousands of tourists are visiting wildlife attractions, unaware of the abuse wild animals face behind the scenes. As well as the cruelty to animals, there is also the very real danger to tourists, as we saw earlier this week with the very sad death of tourist Gareth Crowe in Thailand,” said Elizabeth Hogan, US wildlife campaign manager at World Animal Protection.
“We need to stop the demand for elephant rides and shows, as well as hugs and selfies with tigers and lions, by exposing the hidden suffering behind wildlife attractions,” said Ms Hogan. “If you can ride, hug, or have a selfie with a wild animal, then you can be sure the attraction is cruel. Vote with your wallet and don’t go.”
Gareth Crowe was recently gored to death by an elephant during a tourist ride on the island of Koh Samui, and many of the activities cited by the report are commonplace in Asia.
The study estimates that approximately 110 million people visit wildlife tourist attractions each year, and most are believed to be unaware of the animal abuse involved.
These abuses include very young animals being taken from their mothers and beaten during training to ensure they are passive enough to give rides, perform tricks, or pose for photos with tourists. The “worst venues”, the report states, are bear, elephant and tiger parks and turtle farms.
The study also analysed TripAdvisor reviews to gauge awareness levels among tourists visiting wildlife venues. Of the 50,000 reviews it studied, 80% of people left positive feedback for venues cited as having poor animal welfare. World Animal protection said it is now talking to TripAdvisor to propose ways the travel site can inform tourists about the cruelty at these attractions.
The WildCRU research is believed to be the first-ever piece of global research into the scale of welfare abuse in wildlife tourism.
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