5 animal attractions you should never participate in

21 Sep 2016

By Aaron Tan

Many of these so-called sanctuaries and animal attractions hold a dark secret of abuse and suffering. Uncover the disturbing truths behind these controversial attractions that will make you think twice about ever stepping into one again.

1. Tiger Temples — Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Image via Flickr

There’s nothing sacred about the Tiger Temples of Thailand. One look at the living conditions of these distraught cats and you know something’s up—chained down like prisoners, crammed into tiny cages.

That’s unacceptable.

Handlers beat and force the felines to hold fetching poses while tourist take Instagram-worthy pictures—but at what cost? Baby cubs aren’t spared from the torment either. In fact, the temple makes the most of its earnings by letting tourist bottle-fed the little ones over, and over, and over again till milk is spewing from their mouths.

Oh yeah, and all those ‘donations’ you contribute to the temple? They don’t go to their conservation either. Big surprise. While it’s closed now, we’d never know if one might just spring up once the outrage is forgotten and over. 

2. Dog Meat Festival — Yulin, China

Image via Flickr

Thousands of terrified canines are butchered and consumed each year during the horrific 10-day festival in Yulin. What makes the event even more controversial is that there are no legal dog farms or dog slaughterhouses in China. Yet, more than 10,000 dogs are killed each year.

Which begs the question… where did all the dogs come from?

Most have reportedly been kidnapped or stolen from their original owners, sparking further outrage from dog lovers and animal rights groups alike.

Long standing tradition or not, these pets are family, not food. And despite widespread criticism, the murder of man’s best friend continues to this day.

3. Dolphin shows — SeaWorld

Image via Flickr

At first glance, these friendly mammals may seem content with their living conditions. But a dolphin’s smile is its greatest deception.

Let’s face it, animals are not meant to be held in captivity.

Dolphins from the wild aren’t used to swimming within the confines of a tiny concrete tank. The stress causes them to suffer from incredible amounts of physical and behavioural problems, going so far as committing acts of self-mutilation.

Performing cheap tricks and jumps can also cause fatal injuries to the dolphins. The powerful documentary “The Cove” sheds some light on the plight of dolphins in captivity that every animal-lover should be aware of.

4. Bullfighting — Spain

Image via Flickr

Here’s what happens during a bullfight (and why it needs to be banned):

• Two days before the fight, bulls are severely tortured to weaken them for the event. Wet newspaper is stuffed into their ears; vaseline is rubbed into their eyes to blur their vision; cotton is stuffed up their nostrils to restrict breathing; drugs are injected into them to slow them down; the list goes on…

• Picadors (men on horseback) stab the bull in the neck muscles with a pica (a long wooden spear with a blade tip) to further weaken the tormented animal

• After a long ordeal of attacks, the matador delivers the final degradation with the ‘moment of truth’, or ‘suerte suprema’, severing the aorta with one swift thrust of his sword, releasing the beast mercifully into death…

Well, not exactly… in most cases, the bull is often still alive. They’ve been wounded so badly that they can no longer stand and starts vomiting blood before having their ears and tails are cut off as prizes and dragged off to the slaughterhouse to be skinned. Even then, they may still be breathing…

5. Elephant Rides — Southeast Asia

Image via Flickr

Here’s the thing about wild elephants—they don’t like being ridden on.

In order for that to happen, baby elephants are subjected to a brutal taming process called Phajaan, or ‘the crush’, to completely ‘break their spirit’. The heinous act involves beating, burning, stabbing, and starving the poor animal into submission.

Even after they’ve been tamed, the tortured elephants are forced to work non-stop. Some even dying from exhaustion.

Some other grisly ‘celebrations’ include:

Goat Throwing Festival (Zamora, Spain)The title of this barbaric festival speaks for itself. Thankfully this absurdly cruel practice has since been banned, with festival-goers using an effigy of a stuffed goat instead for their goat-throwing purposes.

Artemisia Mountain Festival (Liuzhou, China)A bloody 500-year-old tradition of pitting two stallions against each other in a gladiator-style fight to the death. Savage.

It’s hard to believe such vicious spectacles still exist in today’s ‘civilised’ society. Being responsible travellers who are aware of such atrocities is the least we can do to help prevent more abuse towards our animal friends.