It’s been many years since I first went undercover to highlight abuses within animal tourism – sitting in an arena of thousands of people, amongst a sea of smiling faces and clapping hands, as the tears rolled down my face. Filming bears forced to ride on motor bikes, tigers whipped and jumping through flaming hoops, and traumatised macaques perched on nervous looking goats who walked a tightrope. A shaking German Shepherd dog forced to climb a high vertical step ladder, with the horrible, inevitable outcome soon to be clear.    

Multiple animal performances, multiple accidents and multiple deaths. 

Today, thankfully, the tide is turning, but it isn’t turning quickly enough. The onus is on us – asking of ourselves if the lifetime that animals suffer, for a few minutes of our entertainment, can justify such cruelty. 

The boxes of “healthy” coffee that tourists are persuaded to buy in the shops and airports of Asia sees a vile and secret industry of thousands of depressed and hungry civets farmed in battery cage conditions. Forced to eat an unnatural amount of coffee berries until they poop out the beans, that end up being sold as an expensive “treat” of Kopi Luwak. The secrecy of the industry sees tourists completely unaware that these animals are not living wild or free, as advertised, but suffer behind bars in sheds, developing neurotic behaviour and compromised immune conditions, such as painful skin disease, until they die alone in their cage.

Cute but terrified baby animals are taken from mothers who have been killed, and used as tourist photo props in almost every corner of the world.

Young tigers, bears, primates, endangered, drugged and often forcibly removed of their teeth and claws. Ultimately making them easier to handle by tourists who are unaware of the barbaric background and who pay extortionate amounts for a selfie or picture to post on one time, one look, social platforms. The picture is all too soon forgotten, while the misery of the subject goes on.

The sense of romanticism of riding on the back of horse-drawn carriages disguises exhausted horses forced to pull tourists along in all extremes of weather, while developing debilitating health conditions as a result of walking on hard surfaces or breathing in traffic fumes all day. 

And the decades long elephant riding tourism industry that sees gentle pachyderms beaten into submission as calves, and always under the “command” of a painful bull-hook that controls and subjugates them. Standing in pain as laughing tourists clamber over their heads and bodies onto a comfortable chair that is anything but comfortable for the elephants who carry them on their backs. 

The perils of engaging in these practices not only hurt the animals themselves, as accidents, death and the spread of disease present a very real risk to tourists who can pay a heavy price for a few minutes of fun. Stories abound of elephants going “rogue” and hurting or even killing tourists who have often unwittingly contributed to pushing them just too far.  So frustrated, so often hungry, with no choices of how to lead their lives or even their days, and finally tipped over the edge of their patience to lash out and make their misery known. Other risks of tourists falling victim to TB, a common disease from elephants, and spread in seconds through droplets in the air.

Such cruel exploitation of animals, with all its risks to humans, must surely come to an end. At Animals Asia we seek to find solutions to industries that have been economically attractive, by helping both the animals and the stakeholders themselves.

Tourist elephant riding is replaced with tourist elephant viewing. From road to forest - a win win: for the owners given compensation for their animals, for the mahouts who continue to be employed to oversee the animals they have come to know well, and for the elephants now simply given choices of what to eat and where to roam, sleep or swim in the wild of Vietnam’s Yok Don National Park. This win now extends to tourists who can enjoy watching these mighty animals simply doing their happy, contented thing - often together with new found friends - for life.

With the Vietnam government guiding and helping us, and with supporters encouraging us, we’ve been able to make significant strides in ending cruel examples of tourist exploitation. For example, following our evidence and reports, Hanoi Central Circus finally ended using elephants and bears in performances, and handed over their last bears to our sanctuary in Tam Dao.

Countless more examples have seen cruel and illegal travelling circuses ending in China, and the much reported “declining industry” of circuses in general, after society’s attention has been brought to how unnaturally and cruelly magnificent mega fauna have been treated for our brief and selfish pleasure. 

Still across the world there is a long, long way to go – and we can, and we must, all play our part to help and release the wild and domestic animals currently beaten, starved and goaded to perform tricks for our entertainment.

By reading our ethical tourism guide you can learn from - and become part of - our movement to say no to practices that cause animals harm and distress. Through our simple “Do’s and Don’ts”, you can ensure that you and your travelling companions are making ethical choices for animals everywhere you go and ensure you #TravelWithKindness. 

When we all become used to thinking “this doesn’t look right, this doesn’t feel right” when looking at animals who have no choices, then change can happen soon. If something doesn’t seem right, it often isn’t right and together we must be the voice that makes the difference, the people who walk away, and the influencers who move closer towards the time that cruel animal tourism practices end.

Join us now, and join our wonderful campaign supporters like naturalist, author and presenter Chris Packham in the fight against cruelty in the name of entertainment. Chris is a long time friend of Animals Asia and a passionate supporter and advocate of a kinder world.

You can read an article written by him especially for the launch of our ethical tourism campaign here: The Guardian Opinion - I deeply regret riding an elephant on holiday. This year, we should all make the ethical choice | Chris Packham