Wildlife advocates are urging the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to set clear standards for businesses claiming to be sanctuaries.
Wildlife NGOs continue to encourage TAT and tour operators to only promote sanctuaries that focus on observation rather than interaction, reports Euronews.
TAT has acknowledged that the absence of a requirement for businesses to register as elephant sanctuaries has negatively affected elephant welfare.
G Adventures has taken a firm stance and signed the World Animal Protection Elephant Friendly Pledge committing not to sell or promote attractions that offer elephant entertainment.
“We now educate our travellers on why they shouldn’t ride them or visit businesses that offer this activity. To allow our travellers to enjoy the incredible wildlife that we share our world with and protect these animals, we worked with the Jane Goodall Institute, World Animal Protection and the World Cetacean Alliance to create our Animal Welfare Policy ensuring all activities we offer involving animals never exploit wildlife,” Brian Young, Managing Director EMEA at G Adventures, told Travel News.
In its Animal Welfare Policy, G Adventures explicitly states that it does not provide any tours or activities involving captive elephants. Furthermore, the policy has strict guidelines on how it selects animal sanctuaries and rescue centres included in its tours.
TAT issues elephant advisory
Since 2020, TAT has been developing a monitoring system for elephant tourism, known as the three Cs, which will focus on elephant welfare, conservation and clear standards:
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Communication strategy to spread awareness about elephant welfare.
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Collaboration with government, tourism operators and animal welfare organisations.
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Compromise and discussions among all key players in the industry to establish standards.
While TAT has yet to formalise sanctuary standards, it recently released an advisory on its official news website, tatnews.org, encouraging tourists to behave respectfully around elephants during game drives and encounters.
“These safety tips include avoiding close interactions, refraining from feeding wildlife, staying on marked trails, recognising signs of aggression and remaining calm in unexpected encounters,” says the advisory.
During encounters, TAT recommends staying calm and quiet, avoiding flash photography and maintaining distance. It also offers a course of action for aggressive encounters following an accident in January when a tourist was killed by an elephant.
