Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2016 9:44:49 GMT 7
On any given day in Thailand, tourists could be paying to climb atop an elephant that has previously trampled or gored a human being.
That’s not a fact you’ll find in glossy holiday brochures, which showcase travelers blissfully riding pachyderms as they lumber through the jungle. Nor do elephant handlers tend to mention to selfie-snapping tourists if their beasts have a history of violence.
Instead, elephants that kill are often resold to new owners and renamed to obscure their identities, wildlife conservationists say. Then they’re recycled back into the tourist trade so that new handlers can keep collecting cash from visitors — who are often more concerned with Facebook "likes" than animal abuse.
Thailand’s latest killing-by-elephant took place earlier this month on Koh Samui, among the more popular island getaways for Thailand’s nearly 30 million annual tourists. According to most accounts, a 36-year-old Scottish man named Gareth Crowe was thrown from an elephant’s back, gored and trampled to death. His teenage stepdaughter, tossed along with Crowe, was injured.
Continues:
www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/02/12/tourists-thailand-dont-know-theyre-riding-killer-elephants/80283654/#
That’s not a fact you’ll find in glossy holiday brochures, which showcase travelers blissfully riding pachyderms as they lumber through the jungle. Nor do elephant handlers tend to mention to selfie-snapping tourists if their beasts have a history of violence.
Instead, elephants that kill are often resold to new owners and renamed to obscure their identities, wildlife conservationists say. Then they’re recycled back into the tourist trade so that new handlers can keep collecting cash from visitors — who are often more concerned with Facebook "likes" than animal abuse.
Thailand’s latest killing-by-elephant took place earlier this month on Koh Samui, among the more popular island getaways for Thailand’s nearly 30 million annual tourists. According to most accounts, a 36-year-old Scottish man named Gareth Crowe was thrown from an elephant’s back, gored and trampled to death. His teenage stepdaughter, tossed along with Crowe, was injured.
Continues:
www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/02/12/tourists-thailand-dont-know-theyre-riding-killer-elephants/80283654/#
