Cambodia Transports Retired Ride Elephants to their New Home

If you want to visit Cambodia because you want to ride an elephant, then you should consider other activities instead.

In June this year, the management authority for the Angkor Archeological Park in Siem Reap, Cambodia announced to completely phase out the elephant ride industry in early 2020.

The local media Khmer Times reported that the process has already begun on November 15. Two elephants at Angkor Wat Temple, where elephant riding is quite popular, have been transported to Bos Thom community forest to start its new life.

Elephants might be used but they are very gentle and we don't want them to be exploited for the sake of tourist's enjoyment, said Long Kosal of APSARA, the governing body of the park. Kosal also said that the remaining 12 elephants will be transferred to the same forest reserve in the early 2020s.

In April 2016, the elephant riding industry became a heated topic online after a female elephant Sambo died from exhaustion and dehydration. The petition was even posted in Change.org. It is signed by at least 185,000 supporters as of writing.

According to animal conservation group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), training elephants for rides would start while they were still babies. Trainers will take them away from their mothers and punish them to shatter their spirit.

PETA also claimed that captive elephants also do not receive decent treatment, resulting in malnourishment and dehydration, like what happened to Sambo.

There is still no prediction of the long-term impact of the elephant ride ban on the tourism of Cambodia. But the latest report revealed that this year, the visitors of the temple between January to September have decreased by 13.7 percent compared to last year.

Asian Elephants are Endangered

In 2018, non-profit World Wildlife (WWF) declared Asian elephants as an endangered species after it has experienced a massive population declined.

The rate was even faster compared to their African cousins. From around 100,000 elephants that roam freely from the Persian Gulf to India and China at the beginning of the 20th century, the number went down by at least 50 percent.

Although poaching for their ivory tusks is also a factor, WWF said that habitat loss is the main threat to the existence of nomadic elephants. As urbanization and agricultural expansion increases, death from starvation and human-elephant conflict also worsens.

"Animals should not be forced to give rides."

In the same month of the ban's announcement, PETA applauded APSARA for this progress. However, the battle has not yet ended until the animals were guaranteed out of the shackles.

Aside from the elephants, PETA also wants to end the donkey ride industry on the Island of Santorini in Greece. At least a hundred of donkeys used as "taxis" were denied basic welfare such as a proper place for resting and access to water. Donkeys were also forced to carry loads beyond what their body capable of.