John, Baby elephants are being captured from their forest homes, thrown into isolation and beaten into submission with rods and bullhooks just so they can be used for tourist attractions. More than 50 travel companies, like TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet, have stopped advertising elephant rides. But Travel Holdings, SITA World Tours, and more than 1000 other companies in the UK are still advertising cruel elephant rides and performances. It’s time for ALL companies to stop profiting from the captivity and torture of these intelligent animals. Let’s create a massive global outcry, so that faced with customer backlash and the threat of profit loss, these travel companies are forced to take action. Will you sign the petition? Travel Holdings, SITA World Tours and all travel companies: stop advertising elephant rides now! The brutal training method baby elephants are subjected to is known as “the crush”. Young elephants are tied up with chains, confined to small spaces and jabbed with spiked metal hooks that leave open wounds. Tourists are being tricked into thinking that paying for elephant rides is supporting the animals and their conservation. But all it’s doing is increasing demand for the exploitation of baby elephants. After a lifetime of captivity elephants can’t be released back into the wild. But they can go to sanctuaries where tourists can observe them from afar and jobs as elephant keepers are still available. As it gets colder in the northern hemisphere travel companies ramp up their advertising for elephant riding in warmer countries like Thailand. So it’s crucial we act now to help put an end to this cruel practice. Ekō members like you have come together to protect animals before. More than 1.7 million people successfully demanded that SeaWorld end its Orca Captivity program. And just last month our community demanded airline TUI stop carrying shark fins in its cargo and days later it announced a shark fin ban policy. Let’s do it again and protect elephants.  Thanks for all that you do, More information: Elephant training process known as ‘the crush’ revealed in rarely-seen footage
Independent. 24 June 2024. Adverts for ‘cruel’ elephant rides still rising despite new UK law, says charity The Guardian. 20 October 2024. |
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