By / Scenic Spots Home News Report
The mysterious “Angkor Wat,” with its thousand-year history, is Cambodia’s most famous international tourist attraction. Many visitors choose to ride elephants around the ancient site to experience Southeast Asian culture. However, in recent years, animal protection awareness has gained increasing attention, and the Angkor Elephant Committee in Cambodia officially announced a ban on elephant rides starting from January 2020.
Angkor Wat officially announces the ban on elephant rides. (Photo / visualhunt)
The elephant ride service at Angkor Wat has been around for nearly 20 years. For the sake of tourism, elephants have endured scorching sun, especially during peak travel seasons when their workload is particularly heavy. News of elephants suffering from heatstroke and dying from overwork in 2016 and 2018 further accelerated the implementation of the elephant ride ban.
Angkor Wat is one of the World Heritage Sites, attracting millions of international tourists every year. (Photo / wikipedia)
These elephants will be relocated to forests and conservation areas to live their natural lives, no longer subjected to inhumane treatment for human entertainment. This makes it the first region in the world to implement a ban on elephant rides. We hope that while enjoying leisure activities, everyone can cherish and treat these animals — our fellow Earth inhabitants — with care.
To promote animal welfare policies, TripAdvisor has also completely stopped selling tickets to amusement facilities that use artificially bred or captive whales and dolphins. (Photo / shutterstock)
Additionally, the globally renowned travel website TripAdvisor officially stopped selling tickets to whale and dolphin amusement facilities at the end of 2019, including those at SeaWorld theme parks. To advance animal welfare policies, the move aims to put an end to the commercial practices of artificially breeding, confining, training, and whipping whales and dolphins for performances. This will inevitably impact theme parks and tourist attractions that breed or import such animals.