The crowds should do right thing.. & stay away
THESE images depict the exploitative and utterly disrespectful use of wild animals being forced to entertain the ill-informed and mindless.
Often they are illegally taken from the wild and traded for use in such shows, removed from their mothers and hand-reared.
How they are trained suggests cruelty becomes part of their everyday lives.
They are often beaten or left in barren enclosures with nothing close to what they need.
Orangutans are very intelligent, closely related to humans, and so share our capacity for pain.
CHOICE
Tourists are funding this trade by visiting shows.
Many may not even realise the pain animals suffer, often being led to believe they enjoy what they are doing.
People need to be educated by tourism operators on what really goes on behind the scenes, and they need to register their concerns.
This ultimately falls at the Thai authorities’ feet, who need to look at the practice and legislation.
But individuals also need to be making the right choice not to visit such exploitative shows.
This is a world away from what these animals need and deserve.
And it is dreadful to think that such activities still continue in 2018.