Yahoo – AFP,
April 26, 2016
Elephant rides are popular with tourists visiting Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple (AFP Photo/Tang Chhin Sothy) |
A Cambodian
tour operator said Tuesday it would reduce work hours for elephants during high
temperatures following the collapse and death of an animal which had been
ferrying tourists in 40C heat.
The female
elephant, aged between 40-45, died by the roadside on Friday after carrying
tourists around Cambodia's famous Angkor Wat temple complex outside Siem Reap.
Photos were
widely shared on social media, prompting calls for Cambodia to reform the
already controversial elephant ride industry.
Oan Kiri,
manager of Angkor Elephant Company, told AFP Tuesday that vets believed
heatstroke was the cause of death.
"Veterinarians
concluded that the elephant's death was caused by the hot temperatures which
caused stress, shock, high blood pressure and a heart attack," he said.
The
elephant had been working around 45 minutes, walking 2.1 kilometres carrying
tourists, before she collapsed on her way to an enclosure.
Elephant
Dies From Exhaustion After Carrying Tourists In Cambodian Heat
|
He added
that the company was "regretful and felt pity" and would now let the
13 remaining elephants work fewer hours until temperatures drop.
The Greater
Mekong region is experiencing its hot and dry season where temperatures of 40C
(104 Fahrenheit) are not unusual. This year has seen particularly hot spells.
Animal
rights groups have long complained that elephants which give rides to tourists
across the region are routinely overworked and brutally broken in during
training.
Thailand
has seen multiple cases in recent months where elephants have killed their
handlers or attacked tourists.
A petition
on Change.org calling on Cambodian authorities to end elephant rides at Angkor
had garnered 24,500 signatures by Tuesday afternoon.
"There
is no such thing as cruelty-free elephant rides," it stated.
Handlers
and tour operators have long argued that tourism provides much needed income
and employment for people -- and for domesticated elephants that would
otherwise risk abandonment and starvation.
But Jack
Highwood, from the Elephant Valley Project, a Cambodian eco-tourism group, said
the country only boasted about 70 domesticated elephants -- "too small a
number not to regulate their use to protect their health and welfare."
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