The dark side of animal tourism

Poor living conditions, a lack of a nutritious diet and very little proper socialisation is the reality for too many animals used for entertainment at tourist attractions around the world. Yet travellers often don’t see the cruelty that animals face, or don’t properly understand the implications of touching, riding or watching them.

A study by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) a few years ago analysed 188 different venues and 51,308 reviews left on TripAdvisor about wildlife tourist attractions and found that 80% of tourists cannot see the negative impact an attraction has on animal welfare. It also found that up to four million tourists annually visit the negative welfare attractions assessed in the study. Another study by World Animal Protection found that 93% of tourists who answered a poll visited these attractions out of a love of animals. However, would they visit if they really knew the suffering many animals underwent for their entertainment?

The researchers filmed a brown bear forced to perform tricks such as skateboard riding and hula-hooping 

Across the globe, there are many ways in which animals are used and exploited for tourist entertainment. Circuses are one of the most prominent. In the UK, a bill meaning that circus operators in England will no longer be able to use wild animals as part of a travelling circus was delivered in May this year. However, in other countries the situation is not the same. Forced to perform tricks, put in danger and living in completely unnatural conditions, animals at the majority of circuses lead miserable lives.

A recent investigation into circuses across Europe by animal welfare charity Four Paws found that countless animals were being mistreated and kept in appalling conditions. The researchers filmed a brown bear forced to perform tricks such as skateboard riding and hula-hooping at Cirkus Humberto in the Czech Republic, while at circuses in Germany elephants were forced into giving rides to tourists and then made to entertain in the circus ring.

The RSPCA outlines that although circus animals are usually captive bred, this does not mean they are tame as it takes thousands of years for animals to become domesticated. This, along with psychological distress, can be seen in the way that animals in circuses have caused harm to trainers and the public. During a show at Moolah Shrine Circus show in Missouri in 2014, for example, three elephants escaped from their handlers in the children’s rides area after becoming stressed by circus noise.

 

Social media is now “setting the industry ablaze, turning encounters with exotic animals into photo-driven bucket-list toppers”

– Natasha Daly, National Geographic

In the modern age, despite improved ethical standards for the treatment of animals in a number of countries, the rise of social media has exacerbated the mistreatment of animals for tourism purposes. National Geographic’s Editor-in Chief Susan Goldberg outlines that, although wildlife tourism is nothing new, “examining it is all the more urgent today because of social media” and reporter for the publication, Natasha Daly, writes that social media is now “setting the industry ablaze, turning encounters with exotic animals into photo-driven bucket-list toppers”. The demand for animal encounters which produce a photo at the end of it, is fuelling increasing cruelty for the animals involved.

For animals to be docile and seem willing to be a part of tourist’s selfies, animals often have to be manipulated. Adult tigers, for example, may be declawed or drugged in order to pose with tourists, while the cubs tourists hold and pose with are speed bred and taken from their mothers soon after birth. Many young elephants in Thailand and Southeast Asia are emotionally broken in a process called Phajaan for them to be ridden or posed with for photos. At the end of last year, 22 wild Amazonian animals were rescued from illegal captivity in Puerto Alegría, Peru, after residents kept them as a draw for tourist boats. The animals rescued included an underweight manatee being kept in a pond and fed bottles of milk by tourists, three sloths and a 10-foot-long anaconda. The year before the rescue, reports detailed the vast extent to which tourists wanting to take photos of their wildlife experience fuelled the animal’s captivity.

 

Every person who rides an elephant must know that, for a few minutes of their joy, it’s a life of nightmares for that elephant

– Katrick Satyanarayan, Wildlife SOS

The cruelty towards these animals also has much wider effects outside the tourism industry too. After footage emerged last year of an elephant being cruelly treated at a resort in India, the founder of Wildlife SOS – the largest animal welfare charity in the country – Kartick Satyanarayan, said that commercially successful elephant attractions “create a demand that drives more poaching, more brutality, more illegal elephant trafficking and more captive elephants” and “every person who rides an elephant must know that, for a few minutes of their joy, it’s a life of nightmares for that elephant”.

Animals used for entertainment for tourists – especially ones used to pose for photo opportunities – often either don’t move enough or move too much; both scenarios potentially cause back or joint problems as well as mental distress. National Geographic’s report earlier this year highlighted two animals in particular, both at Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Thailand, as living in particularly despicable conditions in which they were unable to move and function properly. Four-year-old elephant, Gluay Hom, was described as having “a bent, swollen leg hanging in the air and a large bleeding sore at his temple” while “his eyes were rolled back in his head”. An interpreter checking on Gluay Hom said he looked “like he just wants to be swallowed by the wall”. Khai Khem, a 22-year-old tiger, was detailed as permanently chained in a photo studio with a dental abscess “so severe that the infection was eating through the bottom of his jaw”.

Instagram have introduced a feature in which searches for wildlife hashtags will trigger a notification informing people that what they are about to see is harmful to animals. Although this a welcome feature and may make tourists think twice about the way they travel, it really doesn’t go far enough as the pictures are still able to be spread across the app.

Another investigation reportedly found that birds of prey are virtually starved to force them to obey human commands at zoos across the UK

In these tourist attractions where humans are up close and personal, the animals are often poked and prodded in completely unnatural, harmful and dangerous ways. There are reports, for example, of tourists swarming a dolphin on the Rio Negro in Brazil as it lunges for bait hanging in the air by a tour operator. As a result of the interaction, the dolphin’s skin is covered in scratches due to vying with other dolphins for the bait that is there to lure them for tourist’s photos.

Perhaps less obvious to tourists is the mistreatment of animals in some zoos. While there are many ethical zoos that contribute to world conservation efforts, a report in August by World Animal Protection flagged up hundreds of zoos affiliated with the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) – a global organisation promoting conservation and welfare – for mistreating animals. The study found that, of WAZA’s 1,200 venues, 75% of them still had at least one practice that researchers considered seriously detrimental to the animal’s wellbeing. In a dozen zoos, dolphins were found to be used like surfboards and big cats were still being forced to perform in amphitheatres and gladiator-style shows. Another investigation reportedly found that birds of prey are virtually starved to force them to obey human commands at zoos across the UK.

‘Sanctuaries’ can seem to be more ethical, but behind the scenes still operate and treat animals in ways that are unacceptable

Marine mammal parks and aquariums, in many cases, are also a cause for concern. At many, shows and opportunities to swim and pet dolphins are offered. Such experiences have been flagged up as unethical as animals in “petting pools” are exposed to foreign bacteria and other pathogens and their behaviour can be severely affected, meaning they can become anxious, frustrated and aggressive.

The problems with marine mammal parks came to the fore following the release of a documentary called ‘Blackfish’ in 2013. The documentary detailed the life of an orca named Tilikum who was captive at Sea World and killed three people. Orcas and other dolphins navigate by echolocation, but when they’re kept in pools – like at Sea World – the reverberations from their sonar bounce off the side of the walls and can drive them insane. Images and footage of a number of orcas injured at Sea World has emerged multiple times and many have died way before the normal life span of the animals. Sea World was named as a concern in World Animal Protection’s report. Although, a spokesperson for Sea World, San Antonio, told National Geographic that “accredited zoos and aquariums like SeaWorld play an important role in raising the bar on animal welfare practices”.

Increasingly, tourists are becoming more aware of the unethical nature of animals being touched by humans. As a result, new tourist sites have cropped up giving themselves titles like ‘sanctuaries’. And on the surface, they can seem to be more ethical, but behind the scenes still operate and treat animals in ways which are unacceptable. An example of this is elephant bathing, such as in Thailand, which involves elephants lying in rivers and sometimes being bathed in mud by tourists. For this, the elephants still have to have their will broken in the same, or similar, way to those that are ridden and they are kept in the water for hours at a time.

Tourists can turn the tide by utilising social media for good to help animals

In some cases, the argument against the use of animals for tourist entertainment clashes with culture and tradition. Following Four Paws investigation, the director of Cirkus Humberto stated that “activist groups spread disinformation and stimulate xenophobic behaviour towards people in circuses” to such an extent that they are “reporting death threats to police, every week”. In Thailand, the use of animals as entertainment in many cases has grown out of a shift in industry.

However, there are ways you can go about wildlife tourism in an ethical way. Tourists can turn the tide by utilising social media for good to help animals. National Geographic encouraged readers to share a photo of Gluay Hom (the elephant mentioned above) on social media to highlight the ways in which animals are taken advantage of. Horrified by his injuries and the abhorrent conditions he was being kept in, social media users did just that and eventually Gluay Hom was rescued and is now in a new home.

Proper research into wildlife tourist attractions is paramount. It’s important to look for places where animals appear to be in good nutritional health and have access to clean water at all times. National Geographic says to also look at one or two-star reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, as they may highlight concerns for animal wellbeing. Places that allow tourists to touch animals, and in particular places where animals are surrounded by visitors on all sides, are a no-go. Animals should also have plenty of space to move around, not be chained in any way and also away from large crowds which can cause distress.

You as a tourist have the power to indicate to the industry what kind of situations you want to see animals in

Too many of the people who run these attractions where animals are treated badly sometimes do not have a choice in what job they have, due to being in a difficult economic situation. But by choosing to support ethical wildlife places, you as a tourist have the power to indicate to the industry what kind of situations you want to see animals in.

In turn, those who have no choice in working at places on the dark side of animal tourism may be able to find opportunities elsewhere at brighter places, and more animals can live where they are treated not with cruelty, but with care.