Seeing exotic wildlife is an exciting add-on to most people's holiday. But sometimes animals, particularly those in captivity, are far from cute. This was highlighted this week when the British tourist Andrea Taylor was killed and her father and sister seriously injured by an elephant at a performance in a Thai tropical garden at Pattaya beach resort.
"This was a really tragic event but something we weren't at all surprised about," says Trevor Wheeler, operations manager for the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). "Pattaya is notorious for animal shows, as are Bangkok and Phuket. At best, they're bizarre and, at worst, they're very dangerous. Tourists assume that there will be standards of training and safety, but there rarely are."
Wheeler documented a wide range of animal welfare scandals in Thailand on a trip this February and says it has some of the worst examples of animal abuse he has seen. At the Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm in Bangkok, for example, he found not just crocodiles but performing elephants, a dressed-up chimpanzee in chains, and tigers who were so heavily sedated that tourists were sitting on their backs to have photos taken.
Demonising the animal warders, as some have done, is probably unfair however. In poor countries such as Thailand, animals are the new cash crop for people with few economic alternatives. After the country's recent ban on logging because of deforestation, desperate, unemployed elephant owners (known as mahouts) have brought their animals down from the north of Thailand. The mahouts hide the elephants in scrubland in the daytime and walk them the three or four miles into Bangkok every night, where they then "beg" from tourists out for the evening.
There has also been an upsurge in official animal-based tourist attractions, such as zoos, safari parks and gardens in Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, India and China. And tourism is proving a lucrative add-on at farms - of all kinds.
China's 247 bear bile farms, for instance, house around 7,000 caged bears, which are milked for their bile twice daily until they die. The bile is used to make traditional Chinese medicine, shampoo, skin lotions and even wine (which is given free on some internal flights) and sold at the end of the tour. Tours are arranged for the (mainly Asian) tourists, culminating in a performance by young cubs (who are too young to be milked) which ride bicycles and scooters, box, spin balls and walk tight-ropes.
The WSPA asks people not to attend animal performances of any kind, nor have their pictures taken with animals or even visit aquariums. They also suggest getting a list of local humane societies from them before you go away, so that you can report anything you see to the appropriate local organisations. "Let your tour operator and the tourist authority know you are upset - the power of consumer pressure is very strong in these situations," says Wheeler.
But despite the West's stricter regulations, there are still tourism practices that are highly questionable here. Swimming with dolphins, for instance, has become hugely popular because of its "healing" qualities. But according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), whales and dolphins kept in captivity live in cramped, stressful conditions, are more prone to infection and generally die young.
"If you go on safari, you wouldn't expect to get out of the jeep and climb on a lion's back, yet that's what people do with whales and dolphins," says the WDCS's campaigns officer, Vanessa Williams. "The bottlenose dolphin is twice the size of an average person. Dozens of tourists have been bitten, butted, or had ribs or arms broken for intruding in the animal's territory."
But while some westerners are fierce animal rights campaigners, a growing sector are going back to their roots and exploring the thrill of the chase. In British Columbia, Canada, one third of the 300 or so grizzly bears killed annually are hunted by tourists, paying between $10,000 to $15,000, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency.
"These hunts are completely unsustainable," says EIA bear campaigner, Martin Powell. "The grizzly is a severely endangered species, and hunting is just pushing them closer to the brink." Fifty-two British tour operators have called for a suspension of the grizzly hunt. "They're starting to realise not just that its inhumane, but also that it's putting people off going to British Columbia."
Proof, it seems, that consumer pressure can work.
