This footage shows zookeepers in Thailand jabbing elephants with sharp spikes and forcing tigers and apes to pose with beaming tourists when they are not being kept in cramped cages.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) acquired the footage, reportedly filmed at the Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Pak Nam in the district of Mueang Samut Prakan in the central Thai province of Samut Prakan, and shared it online.
Video Credit: AsiaWire/PETA Asia
Keith Guo, PETA Asia press officer for China, told Asia Wire (AWR):”Between 2012 and 2017, the largest number of tourist arrivals in Thailand has come from China.
“We contacted major Chinese tourism agencies and all of them offered tickets to that zoo. It’s a shame that so many Chinese people go there, but only see the cruel tricks.”
![Credit: AsiaWire/PETA Asia](https://ananova.news/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/AsiaWire-ZooAbuse-03-300x169.jpg)
PETA representatives reportedly found elephants kept on short chains, including baby Gluay Hom.
Some of them had bloodied wounds and zookeepers were filmed apparently jabbing them with short, sharp spikes to make them perform tricks or give rides to tourists.
Unable to socialise with each other, the isolated elephants were filmed swaying backwards and forwards in apparent psychological distress.
Animal activists also found animals, including a tiger, chimp and an orangutan, being used for tourist photos when they weren’t being kept in cramped cages.
![Credit: AsiaWire/PETA Asia](https://ananova.news/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/AsiaWire-ZooAbuse-05-300x169.jpg)
PETA Vice President of International Campaigns Jason Baker said: “The animals at this Thai zoo see nothing but concrete, chains, and cages.
“PETA is calling on travellers around the world to stay away from any facility that sentences wild animals to a miserable life of violence and deprivation.”
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Story By: Buli Liang, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
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