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We were pleased when travel company GetYourGuide removed elephant rides from its platform quite some time ago—a compassionate and business-savvy decision that more than 50 other companies have made as well. Yet despite knowing that all camps that force elephants to give rides are abusive and that all direct contact with elephants is dangerous, it's still offering tours that include visits to these cruel facilities.
Excluding elephant rides from its itineraries is a great start, but continuing to offer visits to camps that force these sensitive, highly intelligent, emotionally complex animals to give rides, that shackle them in chains, and that make them come into contact with the public supports the very same abuse as offering elephant rides does.
This is what GetYourGuide is supporting by failing to remove abusive camps from its tours:
It's supporting the forced separation of mothers and babies as well as the merciless beatings, injuries, trauma, and even deaths that happen when elephants are "trained" to give rides, perform, or be used for direct-contact experiences such as bathing or selfies. These activities drive demand for a cruel and deadly industry in which elephants are captured from the wild or bred into a lifetime of suffering in captivity. Elephants don't naturally engage with humans, so they are emotionally and mentally "broken" in order to make them submissive enough to allow humans to interact with them.
Ask GetYourGuide to make a truly compassionate decision and remove all direct-contact activities with elephants from its offerings.