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Wildlife boosts tourism, spreads cruelty against wild animals

February 05, 2016 06:51 PM

By Y.S.Rana
CHANDIGARH: Tourism can be a revenue booster dose for any government but with its growth, cruelty against wild animals also increases. Three out of four wildlife tourist attractions involve some form of animal abuse and conservation concerns. It is revealed in a study conducted by the World Animal Protection. The report was released on Thursday.

The report states that at least 5.50 lakh wild animals are suffering at the hands of irresponsible tourist attractions around the world. The fact came out from the first every global research done on the scale of welfare and conservation of wildlife tourism by the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (Wild CRU) and commissioned by the World Animal Protection.

Keep the research ratings of Wild CRU and the research and investigations done by the World Animal Protection in Asia and Africa, a list of ten cruelest wildlife entertainment activities across the world are—riding elephants; taking tiger selfies; walking with lions; visiting bear parks; holding sea turtles; performing dolphins; dancing monkeys; touring civet cat coffee plantations; charming snakes and kissing cobras and farming crocodiles.

As tourism continues to grow, we estimate that approximately 110 million people visit cruel wildlife tourist attractions each year, unaware of the animal abuse involved.

These welfare abuses include very young animals being taken from their mothers, beaten and harmed during training to ensure they are passive enough to give rides, perform tricks or pose for holiday ‘selfies’ with tourists, with the worst venues including bear, elephant and tiger parks and a turtle farm.
Wild CRU’s academic review includes analysis of TripAdvisor, the largest online tourist review site, to better understand the awareness levels of tourists visiting these wildlife venues. Of the 50, 000 reviews, it revealed that 80 per cent of people left positive reviews for venues with poor animal welfare.
Gajender K Sharma, India Country Director at World Animal Protection says: “It’s clear that thousands of tourists are visiting wildlife attractions, unaware of the abuse wild animals’ face behind the scenes. We need to stop the demand for elephant rides and shows, hugs and selfies with tigers and lions by exposing the hidden suffering behind wildlife attractions.
“If you can ride it, hug it or have a selfie with a wild animal, then you can be sure it is cruel. Vote with your feet and don’t go.
With no global regulation regarding how wild animals are used in tourism, the big challenge is to transform the tourism industry so it is part of the solution to end cruelty to wildlife.
World Animal Protection has so far secured commitment from 87 travel companies to stop selling elephant rides and shows. Trip Advisor can also make a huge impact and we’re proposing ways they can inform tourists about the cruelty at most wildlife venues

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