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Elephants carrying tourists at Amer Fort, India

This is no life for an elephant. More than 3,000 elephants used as entertainers in Asia face endless suffering. Sadly, this number is rising. Tell the tourism industry to stop hurting elephants.

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Don't get taken for a ride

Around the world, thousands of elephants are cruelly trained and abused for the entertainment of tourists.

Interacting with elephants may be a “bucket list” experience for us, but it is killing them. Every elephant used for tourism is subjected to a brutal training process known as “the crush”. To break their spirit, they are torn from their mothers, isolated, chained, starved and beaten until they are submissive for tourists. And the cruelty doesn’t stop there. Elephants are controlled with fear and pain so they'll perform and take people on their backs.

The elephant you ride is dying inside. Your “dream holiday” is her nightmare. Still want that ride?

Many tourists ride elephants or visit elephant attractions because they love these beautiful animals. The awful truth behind the treatment of elephants used for rides is hidden from sight.

You can help convince travel companies and tour operators to stop promoting attractions that profit from elephant cruelty by taking our elephant-friendly pledge today.

Stand up for elephants now and help end their suffering.

Together we can end the demand for elephant attractions. And when the demand ends, so will the cruelty.

Tourists take a ride on an elephant in Thailand

 

A life entertaining tourists is no life for a wild animal

Across the world animals are being taken from the wild and bred in captivity to be used in the tourist entertainment industry. They will suffer at every stage of this cruel business.

The demand for wildlife holiday experiences is driving the cruel animal entertainment industry. We have the power to reduce that demand and change the industry now.

Pledge to stand with World Animal Protection in asking the travel industry to end the exploitation of wildlife and promise to not visit attractions that use wild animals for entertainment. Let elephants live free of cruelty.

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With your support we are showing the industry there is a different way.

By raising awareness about the hidden cruelty behind elephant rides and shows, we are helping people make informed choices and putting pressure on the travel industry to change for the better.

The good news is that globally the elephant friendly movement is growing with more than 250 global travel companies committing to stop selling tickets to elephant rides and shows.

And public opinion is changing. Of the travellers we surveyed, around 60% said they would avoid a tour operator whose activities cause suffering for wild animals. Together, we can move more companies to stop selling cruel elephant rides and shows to tourists.

As demand shifts away from elephant rides and shows, a growing number of elephant venues are moving to high welfare conditions.

Together, with some of the world’s most influential travel companies, we have also worked to transition some venues in Asia to becoming elephant-friendly attractions. This is showing that high welfare venues can be commercially viable for elephant camp owners, encouraging them to value and care for their animals.

A high-welfare venue allows observational activities only with no direct interaction between humans and elephants. These venues allow elephants to socialise in natural herds, interacting throughout the day and night. Remember, elephants are highly intelligent and very social animals.

These once-captive elephants can safely roam through forests, bathe in a river, roll in the mud, laze in the sunshine, free to eat what they want and express their natural behaviours in natural surroundings.

Right now, as the tourism industry suffers a downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic, many elephants are at risk of going hungry. And thousands more risk being forgotten about and left to suffer in cruel captivity.

But, with ongoing help from supporters like you, we’re working to ensure elephants in tourism venues remain fed and cared for during this current crisis.

Together, we can work towards giving elephants lives worth living.

Wild animals don’t belong to us, they belong in the wild.

Wild elephants

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