Animal Entertainment in Tourism
- Megan Connor
- Jun 23, 2017
- 10 min read
Today I wanted to write about an issue which is very important to me. Animals are used all over the world for entertainment purposes. This is very common in the travel and tourism industry. Recently I have become aware that many of these animals used to entertain tourists in different ways, are largely mistreated and often abused. I wanted to write a post to raise awareness of this issue, as I know most tourists are unaware of how these animals are being treated behind the scenes. I have included some examples of places and organisations which have been found to be mistreating animals. When I was young, my parent's took me to SeaWorld in Orlando. I was excited because I have always loved animals. At this time, I was young and too naive to think of the conditions in which these animals were being forced to live in. In 2013, when I was 17, the Blackfish documentary came out and I was horrified at the things it reveled about SeaWorld. After this, I became much more vigilant where animal-based tourist attractions were considered and now I always do my research before taking part in any of these attractions. I hope that this raises some level of awareness so that tourists can make better educated decisions when travelling.
Thai Tiger Temple - Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua
Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua is a famous Buddhist Temple in Thailand where the monks live alongside tigers. For years, the temple has been on the bucket lists of many travelers because it offers the unique opportunity to get up close and personal with a tiger. This attracts many tourists because tigers are wild animals which they will most likely not get the opportunity to interact with at home. One issue I have with this temple, is that I don't see how tigers, a wild species, can possibly be trained to be docile enough for tourists to sit next to them and take pictures. Tigers are predators, hunters. Naturally, they should see humans as a threat and also as a meal. If a human came close to them, they should be inclined to attack, weather out of hunger of fear. It seems likely to me that these animals were heavily sedated and drugged in order to keep them in a docile state.
In 2016, Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua was accused of illegally trafficking their tigers which lead to an extensive search of their premises. This search lead to the discovery of the dead bodies of 60 tiger cubs. 40 of these were stored in freezers in the temple and the other 20 in jars filled with formeldahide, a preservative. The monks claimed that all of these cubs died of natural causes. In addition to the corpses, some products made from tiger skins were found. These included two tiger pelts and what is estimated to be 1,500 trinkets made from tiger skin and teeth. Following this investigation, all living tigers were removed from the temple, except for one. I cannot find any information on why exactly this tiger was allowed to remain in the temple , or what happened to the tigers who were removed. I hope that they were returned to the wild or placed in the care of a conservation organisation.
Animal Selfies
There have been many cases reported in the media of people endangering animals in order to take a 'selfie' with them. One case I saw reported a young shark being pulled from the water when it was swimming in the shallows near a beach. A group of men then proceeded to take turns pinning the shark down to the sand whilst their friends took pictures of them holding it. This went on for so long that this, in conjunction with the rough handling of the animal from the group of men, eventually lead to the shark dying before they threw it back into the ocean and let it's corpse drift away.
Another case told of a dolphin who had washed up, injured, on the shore of a beach in China. The lifeguards on the beach said that they did not have the facilities to treat the animal and so went to call for help. When they returned they found that a large group of people had swarmed the dolphin and were picking it up and tossing it between each other so that they could all get a selfie with it. The lifeguards got rid of all the people and tried to keep the animal safe until help arrived, but it died during this time. The dolphin may have died even if it had not been picked up by these people however there is no doubt in my mind that the stress the animal would have felt being handled that way and being repeatedly picked up and thrown around, would have helped to speed up it's death.
These animals literally died because people wanted to take a 'selfie' with them. There are many other cases like these but they are all fairly similar so I decided to write about the two most shocking cases that I came across. I think that is especially sad that people chose to do this to an already injured animal. I understand that animals are cute and this is the main motivation that these people had in these situations, but I wish they had spared a moment to think of the consequences of their actions.
Animal Rides
There are a number of tourist attractions across the world which allow tourists to ride animals. This may seem harmless however there could be things going on behind the scenes which are unethical and harmful to the animals in question .
Perhaps the most famous kind of animal ride is the elephant riding which largely takes place in Thailand, but does occur in other destinations in addition to this. I think people don't realise how harmful riding elephants can be because when they look at them they see these huge animals and think that they are strong enough to carry a couple of people. However, their spines are not strong enough to repeatedly carry a heavy weight. These elephants are expected to carry different groups of paying customers all day long, almost every day and this eventually begins to affect their backs because these are wild animals who not bred for this. The seats that are strapped onto the elephants for people to sit in also cause them harm because they have a tendency to rub against the elephant's skin. This can cause pieces of the elephant's skin to peel off, or for blisters and infected lesions to form. There is also the issue of the brutal 'training' that these elephants are put through in order to tame them before they can be controlled enough that they can be put to work. In Asia this training is known as 'phajaan'. The aim of this process is to crush the spirit of young elephants so that they can be controlled. Young elephants are first ripped from their mothers and their natural habitats in the wild. This is often done by hunters setting traps. The baby elephants are then caught in these traps, often a hole in the ground, and the mother is then driven away and often killed. During phajaan, the young elephants are beaten with large clubs and sharp objects called bull-hooks, which is a long curved spike on a stick. These animals are also left without food and people beat them through the night so that they are deprived of sleep. Once the animals have been tamed, they are put to work. However, the bull-hooks I described earlier are still used almost every day to keep the elephants in compliance with their owners. I watched a video which showed undercover footage of the phajaan process and it brought me to tears. This footage can be found online if you are interested in watching it however I would warn you that it is very upsetting.
Other animals which commonly available to ride are camels and donkeys. I would suggest staying away from these attractions for reasons similar to the above. Camels and Donkeys, unlike horses, do not have the spinal structure required to carry a human being.
Zoos
Zoos are not always bad places, I do understand that. Many zoos work for conservation and rehabilitation. I respect and support these actions. Where I draw the line, is when animals are ripped from their natural habitats for no other reason that for our entertainment. I do not believe that animals should be kept in a zoo if it is not more beneficial to them than being in their own natural habitat.
In the UK, where I live, I am aware of the animal protection laws that are in place to ensure the safety and ethical treatment of animals who are kept in zoos. I am often concerned to visit zoos abroad because I am not familiar with animal protection laws in other countries and do not want to give my money to an organisation who may be mistreating and neglecting the animals in their care. If I am considering visiting any zoo, I research it first. I am aware that some Asian counties have no laws to protect animals in zoos and/or in the wild and so I would never visit any zoo in these countries, or pay money to take part in any other animal based attraction in these destinations. I would urge you to do your research before visiting any zoo, in order to ensure that we are not giving our money in support of the abuse of animals. I have heard some horrors stories about certain zoos, most memorably Copenhagen Zoo, where they shot a healthy giraffe during their opening hours while people were in the zoo, some with their children. They said that the reason they shot the giraffe was because they were becoming overpopulated. When I heard this I found it so shocking that I couldn't believe it. I have since learned of another incident where they put down four of their lions because they were introducing a new member to the pack and didn't want there to be any conflict between the males. In both these incidences, I believe that these issues could have been solved by releasing the animals into the wild, or transferring them if they were not ready to be in the wild yet. I do not see how they can jusify killing these animals.
Animals Used for Performance Purposes
Since the release of the documentary 'Blackfish' in 2013, which follows the treatment of orcas at the famous SeaWorld theme park, people have become much more aware of how animals can be mistreated in situations like this. Animals are used for performance all over the world, and performances like this are a massive tourist attraction.
SeaWorld and Loro Parque are two similar marine life attractions where animals are used to perform. The way that these parks mistreat their animals was exposed through the Blackfish documentary. If you have not seen this, i would recommend watching it, it is very informative. These parks only care about making money and are not half as concerned with the physical and mental health of their animals as they are with their turnover of profit, despite their claims. For example, let's look at the size of SeaWorld's car park vs. the size of their Orca enclosure.
Above, circled in yellow, are the parking facilities at SeaWorld. You can see that they are prepared for a large number of visitors. It is clear that SeaWorld want to adhere to the needs of their customer's by providing such extensive parking facilities. However, circled in blue, is their Orca enclosure. As you can see, the size of this a tiny fraction of their car park. To me, this shows that SeaWorld do not care about the amount of space that these animals require. SeaWorld portray themselves as lovers and carers of animals. I am sure that many of their staff do truly love the creatures they work with and that they do their very best under the given circumstances to care for them day to day. However, I don't think that the people who own and run the park would even spare a thought for the animals in their attraction.
I do understand why people go to attractions like this. My parent's took me with my two brothers when we were younger, because everyone loves animals, especially kids. They thought it would be a fun day out for us and it was. I was too young then to think about what could be happening behind the scenes and Blackfish hadn't come out yet. When you are at a park like this, you are not looking for sinister possibilities, you are just having a good time with your friends and/or family. I understand this, and want to say that I am not writing this post to cast judgement on anyone, rather to raise awareness.
There are many other examples of animals being used for performance purposes, all over the world. For example, in parts of Asia, there are shows where monkeys are made to perform dance routines in costume. Similarly to this, there are the Orangutan boxing shows which also take place is parts of Asia. These shows require Orangutan's to fight each other in a boxing ring, of course the animals are not physically hurting each other, as they are not aggressive animals, however the real issues if what happens during the training for these shows. Just like I described in the section on elephant rides, animals participating in shows like this are often subjected to painful treatment during their training. This is done to generate fear in the animals, so that it will always be motivated to do what it is told out of fear of being hurt if they misbehave. This is similar to the treatment that animals are exposed to in circuses.
Circuses are no place for animals. In order to be trained, these animals are often abused. In addition to this, they are kept in small, metal cages with barely any space to move around in, let alone get any kind of excersize. The typical kinds of animals used in circus performances are elephants, tigers, monkeys and lions. Each of these animals is used to large open spaces in their natural habitats, and all of them live in groups. To separate them into tiny cages where they spend most of their lives alone is incredibly cruel.
Those are my overall thoughts of some different animal based tourist attractions. Again, I would like to state that I did not mean mean to offend anyone with an comments made in this post. I am simply aiming to make people think about what happens behin the scenes of these seemingly harmless attractions. Feel free to leave any comments below or on my facebook .
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