Another travel company boycotts elephant tourism

Shot of an Indian elephant in and its handler standing under a canopy

The travel industry is increasing its rally around ethical elephant tourism, with another company jumping on the bandwagon to help put an end to the cruel attraction.

Even though attitudes are changing towards elephant tourism, the captivity of elephants still continues to grow, particularly in Asian countries according World Animal Protection.

More than 160 global travel companies have stopped offering travel packages that include cruel elephant entertainment, including popular Australian brands, Adventure World, Antipodean, Intrepid Travel and World Expeditions.

The latest travel company to stop offering packages that involve elephant entertainment is online travel website, Expedia.

“We congratulate Expedia for taking a positive step forward to stop the demand for tourists visiting cruel wildlife attractions,” Deputy Director for Wildlife at World Animal Protection, Audrey Mealia said.

“Many animals at such venues are taken from their mothers at a young age, held in cruel captivity and beaten into submission to interact with tourists. We are now seeing real change in the travel industry.

“As a result of our work, TripAdvisor led the way last year when it ended the sale of some cruel wildlife attractions and more than 160 travel companies have stopped offering and promoting elephant rides and shows to their customers,” Audrey added.

“Travel companies that have not yet followed suit should join the movement as more companies realise the cruelty that wild animals endure behind the scenes.”

More than 3,000 elephants are forced into captivity for tourist activities and entertainment across Asia. Welfare conditions are usually severely inadequate, kept in chains day and night when they are not performing or giving rides to tourists.

This life of captivity begins with severe trauma, with young elephants separated from their mothers before suffering a harsh training process to break their spirits.

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