Animal Tourism in Thailand

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http://expertvagabond.com/elephants-in-thailand/

http://matadornetwork.com/change/7-r...-tiger-temple/

This may not be a topic for everyone and I'm sure the usual few will wonder what this has to do with Gay Thailand.

No doubt, there are only a few of us if any that have not either been on an elephant or up close with a tiger, while in Thailand. Who knows, perhaps it's something a few of us have done with a Thai friend. The question being asked these days though "Is it ethical?"

Should elephants continue to be used for rides, entertainment? Should they play any role in Thai tourism?

With the Tiger Temple story that surfaced earlier this year, should that change how tigers are used in Thailand?

Like a lot of things in Thailand, this is just another thing that seems about to change, but should it? Without tourism, what happens to the animals?

Surfcrest

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This is a very interesting question and I think this forum has shifted to include topics other than those of a specifically gay nature.

Animal welfare tends to be the last thing governments turn their attention to and only after the welfare of the people has been improved as much as is realistically possible. So, Thailand is a long way from that. Treatment of animals in Asia varies depending on the worth of the animal. For example if you visit the crocodile farm you will see a noticeable difference between the tigers that simply live in cages and those that are to be photographed with tourists.

The elephant rides are a different matter. I have been on an elephant ride and it was horrible. The mahoot was hitting the elephant on the head with a metal bar until I told him to stop because not only was in unnecessary and cruel but I didn't want to be on the back of an angry elephant. So for me, never again. Most of us know how these animals are 'trained' and mentally destroyed before they are even a few years old and most of us probably would rather it didn't happen. However elephants have been used as heavy duty machinery for hundreds of years in Asia and are a rather eco friendly way of getting the job done in places where it might be difficult or even impossible to get a bulldozer so there are two sides to this.

I don't want to derail this topic before it's started but I think the keeping of Orcas in captivity and the way they are treated is worse than most of what happens to elephants.

Now what is worse:
Keeping elephants to provide elephant rides ?
or
Breeding animals for food & having them slaughtered by some inhumane method such as having their throat cut, just to satisfy some religious requirement ?

There's a difference.

Many times those elephants are kidnapped out of the jungle as babies, then paraded around as a tourist attraction. That's bullshit, and a far cry from breeding animals for the sheer purpose of providing food. They don't have a chance before they're even born, because the entire reason they are born is to be bred. That's quite different than an animal born and raised in the wild, then later kidnapped.