Elephant abuse in Thailand, story goes viral. Painfully thin elephant is forced to perform cruel circus tricks including balancing on metal tight ropes and perching on wooden tables in an empty arena in Thailand.
Harrowing footage of a severely underweight elephant being forced to perform tricks on a tiny tightrope in a virtually empty zoo has outraged visitors who fear a drop in tourism may have left the animals without food.
The adult elephant with long white tusks can be seen performing in front of a deserted stand at Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Thailand, last Friday.
With its bones clearly visible, the ‘cow’ – a female elephant – can be seen balancing on two wooden tables before being led down and forced to walk across a metal tight rope.
She pauses in the middle, turns around and walks back.
The skeletal frame of the Asian elephant – with its pelvis and shoulder poking through its saggy leathery skin – raised concerns from one visitor who filmed the heartbreaking scenes.
The visitor, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘I’ve been visiting the zoo for a long time because I like to look at the animals. But when I visited last week I was upset when I saw one of the elephants.
‘The elephant looked so thin and weak. I felt so sorry for him. I think he needs help.
‘I don’t want to say anything bad about the zoo, because they might be problems and cannot afford to look after the elephant. I would like people to help the elephant.’
The crocodile farm was built in 1950 as Thailand’s first crocodile farm.
It quickly expanded to include different zoo creatures and is now the world’s largest crocodile farm.
The farm has over 60,000 crocodiles of different kinds in various pits and features daily shows. Locals said that the zoo was once popular, but in recent years the crowds have dwindled and many shows are now empty.
One resident who lives nearby, nicknamed Ploy, 24, said: ‘I was born on the same street as the zoo and it has been open all my life.
‘I first went when I was 10-years-old but haven’t been back since. It used to be very popular and there would be lots of tour buses arrives, but now it’s so quiet. I’m worried about the animals.’
Visitors who reviewed the zoo, which has a one star rating on TripAdvisor, said they were ‘heartbroken’ at what they saw, although the attraction did receive some praise.
Joyce Chang said: ‘The place is poorly maintained – a lot of the facilities are run down and look like it hasn’t been upgraded in a long time. It’s very heart wrenching to see the animals kept in such poor conditions and God knows if there’s even anyone taking care of them.’
Another woman said she ‘literally cried numerous time throughout the day’.
A spokesman for the zoo said that all the elephants at the park are ‘good’.
They said: ‘No, no, no. The elephants here are all healthy. They are all good. None of them are thin. They are all fed well. They do shows every day.’
–
You can follow BangkokJack on Minds & Twitter. Or join the free mailing list (top right)
Please help us continue to bring the REAL NEWS – PayPal
