Over 100 million tourists visit animal attractions every year. A considerable amount of money can be made by using animal to entertain tourists. However, the dark sides of these attractions are violence, overworking and jailing poor animals.
An elephant’s show
In 2017, “A World Animal Protection” discovered that almost 3,000 elephants in Asia are suffering in a poor environment. Those elephants would be chained for the rest of their life. They also suffer from hunger and overwork all the time.
Riding an elephant is popular among tourists. On the other hand, violence will be used to punish disobeyed elephants during the time of riding. Trainers will use 60cm-long sharp metal hook called “elephant goad” to tame them. Those elephants are forced to work for many hours with insufficient care.
Tiger zoo
“Tiger Temple” in Kanchanaburi was closed in 2016 because of possessing tigers illegally, killing them and even selling it as meat.
Last year, journalists found out that “Golden Tiger (Thailand) Co. Ltd”, a company operated by monks from that Tiger Temple, has been established in order to start running the cruel business on animals again. Baby tigers would be separated from their mother stayed at the zoo. Tourists would then pay to breed the babies. Keepers would use sedatives to make tigers become more obedient. Once they die, their body would become a valuable Chinese medicine. At the end, they would have been toys their whole life.
Monkey
Monkeys are another common specie being abused in animal attractions. Monkey is a clever animal and they are adorable to tourists. Therefore, zoos would organize boxing shows to force two monkeys to fight. The monkeys would get hurt during such boxing games. Also, monkeys and orangutans would be kept in a tiny cage and face hard living conditions.
All in all, animals are good friends with people but that does not mean that their lives belong to humans. One should always love and respect animals.
