International animal welfare organization, World Animal Protection has reported in its new finding the dismal conditions of an elephant at entertainment venues in India and also the alarming elephant tourism trends in the country. It is also expected that these trends are going to get worse only post the COVID 19 situation.
About the Report
This is the third edition of the report named ‘Elephant. Not Commodities’ which has been published on World Elephant Day. This report compares research spanning over a decade into elephant tourism covering venues across Thailand, India, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The salient findings of the report are:
- India is home to the second-highest number of elephants used in tourism in Asia.
- Of the total 21 venues surveys encompassing 509 animals, the report found that 45% of the elephants were kept in severely inadequate conditions.
- There are over 3800 captive elephants in 357 tourism venues across Asia, out of which three quarters are in Thailand only. The country has observed a 70% increase in captive elephants in the last decade.
- 2390 elephants, about 63 per cent, are suffering in severe conditions in 208 venues across the countries studied in the report and only 7% of the elephants have been found to be staying in the healthy venues.
- In 2015, 2242 elephants, around 77 per cent, were found to be living in severe conditions whereas only 7% was found to be in high-welfare venues.
About World Animal Protection
In India, this is working to phase out elephant rides at the Ajmer Fort in Jaipur whereas over 100 elephants are used for this purpose. It is also planning to launch a campaign in the world to ban the trade of wild animals, forever. The organization is appealing to the leaders of the G20 Nations to take this initiative at the earliest.
Founded in 1981, it is an international non-profit organization and the vision of the organization is – ‘A world where animal welfare matters and animal cruelty has ended. It is based in London, UK and has regional offices in 14 countries of the world covering all the continents.