Here we are in Chiang Mai, Thailand and the only thing I want to do is meet an elephant and play with baby tigers. Everyone here does that...it's part of the experience! So I start some online research about where to go and I got way more information than I bargained for. I started to come across one big question: IS IT ETHICAL? So here I am with all of my information, arguments for both sides & no direct evidence of "maltreatment"...but I have to ask myself, is it more important for me to meet an elephant (it's my dream...) or to protect the elephants and not be one of those tourists who provides income for these places. There is ONE place here in Thailand that seems to get a good rapport for taking care of their elephants appropriately....Elephant Nature Park, but it being low season we didn't think we needed to book anything ahead of time and they are completely booked. So my only chance of seeing or meeting an elephant would be going to a place that allows riding, potentially uses bull hooks and puts on shows with elephants....all of the signs to stay away if you care about elephants well-being. Welp. These elephants are potentially treated poorly and are used solely for money...they all had to go through an extremely rough training as babies in order to not be "wild" anymore...you can look that up online if you want more details but its terrible. So in conclusion, I will not be fulfilling my dream of meeting elephants in Thailand...but I will be supporting these elephants and attempting to be one the tourists who can make a difference for future elephants by not going to these places when I truly don't know the details of what I could be supporting by spending my money there. I sure hope one day we can plan ahead or find a place where I can meet one of these beautiful creatures. (The elephant pictured is one we met at the Chiang Mai Zoo) The second debate. Tigers. Steve loves big cats, so do I...but I don't need to be in the same room with one. I would LOVE to play with tiger babies though! Tiger Kingdom gets a good rap from many visitors....and a bad rap from some. There are "rumors" of the tigers being drugged but based on my own research I don't think this is true....tigers are cats, they sleep most of the day....just because they are lazy and sleepy a lot of the time doesn't mean they are drugged. BUT what I do struggle with is the fact that the tigers are constantly meeting people, all day....according to their website 400-600 people a DAY! This is crazy. I understand they have to feed the cats and take care of them, but this doesn't seem fair. They also only allow people to meet cats that are 2.5 or younger as it was determined that tigers older than that are too dangerous. So they have a constant flow of cat options in all ages under 2.5 and once the cats reach that age they "go to another place with lots of space". I might be wrong, but when I put all of this information together I think to myself....how do they constantly have baby tigers (which eventually get older), small tigers, medium tigers and larger tigers? That is a lot of tigers growing up and being around people and reared by people....tigers who will never be able to be fully independent in the wild....and they are breeding new cubs all the time. Where do these older tigers really go and how long can they keep this up before they have thousands of adult tigers who can't live in the wild? It just seems unfair. It sounds like they care more about money than the tigers. The tigers do seem happy, playful and get good meals everyday...some would say this is a luxury but what about the future for all of these baby and young tigers everyone goes to see? I don't have the answers, only my own thoughts on what seems logical...so here we are trying to decide if we should see the tigers? My heart is telling me know, but I've already missed out on elephants...do I tear myself away from the tigers too? Why can't people always have animals best interests in mind? That would make this a lot easier.
1 Comment
Dad
27/7/2015 10:20:41 am
Lot's to think about and process - as you have discussed, things are not always as they appear from the outside...
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