Published on : Friday, August 24, 2018
Now, the elephants at the park will be permitted to roam the forest freely as the tourists will watch the majestic animals in their natural habitat.
To quote Dave Neale, AnimalsAsia’s Director of Animal Welfare, “Instead of constraining the elephants with chains so they can be ridden by visitors, tourists will instead follow, watch and learn about how these amazing animals really live and behave in their forest home. If successful, this model of cruelty-free elephant tourism could become a template for others in the country – and even the region – to follow. It’s a model where the elephants, the mahouts and the tourists all win.”
This is unbelievable news as elephants in tourism so far went through tragic abuse under terrible living conditions. In a way to make them passive enough, to be ridden elephants are compelled to experience a process known as “the crush”, during which they are confined and beaten with bullhooks. When refusing to give rides, often the animals are chained, not capable to express natural behaviors, and kept in depressing isolation as a result of which many of the animals die out of exhaustion due to overwork.
Dak Lak province, home to Yok Don National Park, is famed for its elephant tourism and believed to contain around 40 captive elephants.
Tags: elephant-friendly tourism, Vietnam