Warning: Distressing Content
Upsetting footage taken from the ‘world’s worst zoo’ shows painfully thin elephants chained to the ground and nodding their heads up and down in what is said to be a sign of psychological distress.
The big animals are also filmed being paraded around the park before being made to throw footballs at bowling pins for the entertainment of visitors.
The video was captured last week at the Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Bangkok, which has come under fire before as another video emerged showing zookeepers stabbing elephants with sharp spikes and forcing tigers to pose for pictures.
Take a look at the telling footage of the distressed animals:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) shared other images taken from the zoo in order to shed light on how poorly the animals are treated.
One upsetting scene showed a crocodile lying on the ground after apparently being dumped at the bottom of a walled enclosure; elsewhere a lonely looking bear scrambled at the walls of another isolated pit.
After the first shocking videos emerged, animal rights groups began pressuring tour companies to stop taking tourists to the zoo. The Chinese firm Ctrip, Asia’s biggest online booking agency which owns Skyscanner, Trip and Tours4fun, has thankfully now stopped selling tickets to the zoo.
Keith Guo, PETA Asia press officer for China, explained:
Between 2012 and 2017, the largest number of tourist arrivals in Thailand has come from China.
According to the Bangkok Post, towards the end of last year the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation ordered the management of the zoo to give two skinny elephants a rest from performing until their health improved.
However, despite growing pressure from activists and the interception of the authorities the zoo continues to operate and animals remain in appalling conditions.
A Change.org petition has been started with the hopes of shutting down Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo and relocating the animals to sanctuaries.
The page reads:
Elephants are kept chained up and forced to perform in a show. There are crocodile shows where the handlers wrestle with them and force their jaws apart.
This treatment of these animals is extremely cruel. They are currently living a life that is completely unnatural to them.
No animal deserves to be treated in such a horrible way. You can sign the petition here.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.