From dolphins to tigers, Thailand's animal shows taking their toll

[northernjohn]

I don't get it your Morons Here you are complaining with great gusto how the Thais treat animals

They treat woman worse but I never hear from you guys about your moral indignation when they are nasty with woman.

Do you think it's only Thais who are morally rustic with women? Female domination and abuse still exists in most countries, and not only Thailand.

You might be surprised by study stats... http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/documents/egm/NeglectAbuseandViolenceofOlderWomen/Violence%20against%20women.pdf

Got to Chapter 6, after reviewing the likes of Australia and Germany. Mind you, you might like to then say the UN is not my uncle.

Thailand is low, although I would agree that stats are based upon 'reported cases'.

However, for all us morons.. as you stated.. female abuse is not unique to Thailand - the agenda was animals...... and if you care to also 'google', you'll also find that Thailand does not stand high in the official ratings.

The article is about how Thais treat animals. I think it is only fair to mention the way they treat their women. It saddens me to see so many people willing to put animals ahead of humans. Also remember a lot of the reason for the shows is the foreigners.

If some one truly cares about how the animals are treated they should start out by teaching the handlers to respect humans first. It will then be easier to get them to respect other animal's life. Start at the beginning not in the middle by then you are to late.

JMO.

[el jefe]

What PC bologna. Tigers and dolphins are not what's important in life at all, but everyone is saying they should be...really...like any of us has ever eaten a dolphin or fried tiger gonads. Sure, let's all do what we're told and nod our heads at the appropriate moments.....like that makes life better for us or the animals concerned. What drivel and utter crap. No. I refuse to be a robot for BS arguments. All the PETA idiots can now go back to patting each other on the back and being successful at trying to censor all debate under the cloying blanket of false altruism. Congratulations -- you stifled free expression better than Stalin ever did -- and for all the right reasons too. I protest. I disagree, and I I hate anyone who mouths such platitudes. The quotes are from people who make their living from being spokespersons for correctness, and they, themselves contribute nothing -- a last cull of such conservation nuts found that not a single one had ever made a cash donation to the causes they rant about...I guess the logic is "I get paid to do this, why should I contribute? I'm your hero -- you pay me."

Yeah, right. It is all minimalist BS aimed to make people feel like they are doing something. Raising awareness does not tie a baby's shoes.

I don't eat sentient animals, including dolphins and whales and primates. But roast some mutton, beef or chicken and I am there with no guilt. I am not accepting guilt for being an omnivore. No way, no how, and piss off with the pseudo-religious arguments.

I like being human, with all of it's contradictions and difficulties...but push comes to shove, if the choice is my little girl or the one-eyed barfing beetle...the beetle has to go. Get over it -- thaat's never going to change. Ever. And not for any of the hypocrits bleating to save all cute animals either.

Animal rights actrvists never care about human beings, that's too complicated, so they latch onto the easiest and most socially lazy approach altogether and embrace the new pastoral conceit,

Blah! We should all puke...and then eat some more beef (maybe vomitoriums are needed now more than ever).

Wow! You wrote "I don't eat sentient animals, including dolphins and whales and primates. But roast some mutton, beef or chicken and I am there with no guilt."

How did you determine that sheep and cows are NOT sentient animals??

There's plenty more illogic here and "facts" that can't be proven so there's no point in feeding the troll.

the best way to end the torture would be for tourists to boycott all the animal shows. But I doubt that will ever happen. I go past some of the elephant "camps" in the Chiang Mai area on a regular basis. There are plenty of Thai and Chinese tourists there but the majority are farang. In order to end the exploitation we all need to tell our friends and stop taking friends and relatives to animal shows.

[rijit]

made the mistake of, on a bored afternoon going to Chang mai zoo and found a truly shocking place where they allowed motorcycles a car so presume it wasnt alone, along with a noisy bus that were all allowed to drive right up to animals pens . Poor poor animals were showing clear signs of mental health issues, self harming agitated behavior, in dirty, poorly repaired pens that were far to small, Really Chang Mai should be ashamed of giving its name to such a place , wrote a review of it on trip advisory and i sort of expected to find positive reviews 4 it from eastern Europeans, but not from tourists of new Zealand and a few other supposedly aware countries. A true national horror...

Edited August 16, 2014 by rijit

[tromboneman]

What PC bologna. Tigers and dolphins are not what's important in life at all, but everyone is saying they should be...really...like any of us has ever eaten a dolphin or fried tiger gonads. Sure, let's all do what we're told and nod our heads at the appropriate moments.....like that makes life better for us or the animals concerned. What drivel and utter crap. No. I refuse to be a robot for BS arguments. All the PETA idiots can now go back to patting each other on the back and being successful at trying to censor all debate under the cloying blanket of false altruism. Congratulations -- you stifled free expression better than Stalin ever did -- and for all the right reasons too. I protest. I disagree, and I I hate anyone who mouths such platitudes. The quotes are from people who make their living from being spokespersons for correctness, and they, themselves contribute nothing -- a last cull of such conservation nuts found that not a single one had ever made a cash donation to the causes they rant about...I guess the logic is "I get paid to do this, why should I contribute? I'm your hero -- you pay me."

Yeah, right. It is all minimalist BS aimed to make people feel like they are doing something. Raising awareness does not tie a baby's shoes.

I don't eat sentient animals, including dolphins and whales and primates. But roast some mutton, beef or chicken and I am there with no guilt. I am not accepting guilt for being an omnivore. No way, no how, and piss off with the pseudo-religious arguments.

I like being human, with all of it's contradictions and difficulties...but push comes to shove, if the choice is my little girl or the one-eyed barfing beetle...the beetle has to go. Get over it -- thaat's never going to change. Ever. And not for any of the hypocrits bleating to save all cute animals either.

Animal rights actrvists never care about human beings, that's too complicated, so they latch onto the easiest and most socially lazy approach altogether and embrace the new pastoral conceit,

Blah! We should all puke...and then eat some more beef (maybe vomitoriums are needed now more than ever).

What are you toking? I want some

[WorriedNoodle]

I find these type of attractions dated and just in poor taste. Never visited them, neither will.

But they are happening today. The most obscene I have seen lately was at Safari World with the dolphin show and extremely loud disco to please the tourists from the sub continent.

[Benmart]

What PC bologna. Tigers and dolphins are not what's important in life at all, but everyone is saying they should be...really...like any of us has ever eaten a dolphin or fried tiger gonads. Sure, let's all do what we're told and nod our heads at the appropriate moments.....like that makes life better for us or the animals concerned. What drivel and utter crap. No. I refuse to be a robot for BS arguments. All the PETA idiots can now go back to patting each other on the back and being successful at trying to censor all debate under the cloying blanket of false altruism. Congratulations -- you stifled free expression better than Stalin ever did -- and for all the right reasons too. I protest. I disagree, and I I hate anyone who mouths such platitudes. The quotes are from people who make their living from being spokespersons for correctness, and they, themselves contribute nothing -- a last cull of such conservation nuts found that not a single one had ever made a cash donation to the causes they rant about...I guess the logic is "I get paid to do this, why should I contribute? I'm your hero -- you pay me."

Yeah, right. It is all minimalist BS aimed to make people feel like they are doing something. Raising awareness does not tie a baby's shoes.

I don't eat sentient animals, including dolphins and whales and primates. But roast some mutton, beef or chicken and I am there with no guilt. I am not accepting guilt for being an omnivore. No way, no how, and piss off with the pseudo-religious arguments.

I like being human, with all of it's contradictions and difficulties...but push comes to shove, if the choice is my little girl or the one-eyed barfing beetle...the beetle has to go. Get over it -- thaat's never going to change. Ever. And not for any of the hypocrits bleating to save all cute animals either.

Animal rights actrvists never care about human beings, that's too complicated, so they latch onto the easiest and most socially lazy approach altogether and embrace the new pastoral conceit,

Blah! We should all puke...and then eat some more beef (maybe vomitoriums are needed now more than ever).

The test of our humanity it's been said, is how we treat the vulnerable, whether human or non-human. How we do this, not when the eyes of the world are on us, but when no-one is watching, is what defines who and what we really are. How can anyone ever think it's acceptable to take some living thing from the wild (or worse still, breed it for that purpose) to deprive it of freedom, for it's entire life, for entertainment? Let me say that again... for entertainment!

A Gorilla in a cage for 27 years with nothing else but a tyre? Convicted murderers and rapists are not treated like this. Dolphins ripped from their pods (most of whom are slaughtered) and shipped half way round the world to live in small tanks and be "trained" to jump through hoops so tourists can clap and pay cash. Tigers kept drugged for most of their lives so people can have their pictures taken with them.

Just for a second stop and think and replace the Gorilla, the Tiger or the Dolphin with a human being. Not a person on the planet would agree this to be acceptable behaviour, so why should it acceptable for animals to be treated like this. No brainer really.

Now to have the privilege to glimpse a Gorilla or a Tiger in it's natural habitat or see a pod of Dolphins in the wild, now you're talking. But the greed of man will continue to be driven by money. People, myself included, are more and more willing to pay top dollar to see these animals in the wild, but not if there's a sniff of exploitation. Those who profit from exploitation generally, thankfully, do not have the wit to realise this.

You can only live in hope that in 50 years time, we'll look back on this kind of exploitation the same as we now do on slavery. The reality is, most of these animals will likely be extinct by the time that happens. Think on, once they're gone, they're gone.

Well at least you allow us to eat them.

Eating is necessary for life, be it animal or vegetable diet.

Entertainment and amusement is for enjoyment.

The allowance is determined by ones intelligence.

[Benmart]

What PC bologna. Tigers and dolphins are not what's important in life at all, but everyone is saying they should be...really...like any of us has ever eaten a dolphin or fried tiger gonads. Sure, let's all do what we're told and nod our heads at the appropriate moments.....like that makes life better for us or the animals concerned. What drivel and utter crap. No. I refuse to be a robot for BS arguments. All the PETA idiots can now go back to patting each other on the back and being successful at trying to censor all debate under the cloying blanket of false altruism. Congratulations -- you stifled free expression better than Stalin ever did -- and for all the right reasons too. I protest. I disagree, and I I hate anyone who mouths such platitudes. The quotes are from people who make their living from being spokespersons for correctness, and they, themselves contribute nothing -- a last cull of such conservation nuts found that not a single one had ever made a cash donation to the causes they rant about...I guess the logic is "I get paid to do this, why should I contribute? I'm your hero -- you pay me."

Yeah, right. It is all minimalist BS aimed to make people feel like they are doing something. Raising awareness does not tie a baby's shoes.

I don't eat sentient animals, including dolphins and whales and primates. But roast some mutton, beef or chicken and I am there with no guilt. I am not accepting guilt for being an omnivore. No way, no how, and piss off with the pseudo-religious arguments.

I like being human, with all of it's contradictions and difficulties...but push comes to shove, if the choice is my little girl or the one-eyed barfing beetle...the beetle has to go. Get over it -- thaat's never going to change. Ever. And not for any of the hypocrits bleating to save all cute animals either.

Animal rights actrvists never care about human beings, that's too complicated, so they latch onto the easiest and most socially lazy approach altogether and embrace the new pastoral conceit,

Blah! We should all puke...and then eat some more beef (maybe vomitoriums are needed now more than ever).

What are you toking? I want some

It is readily available in a bottle, glass or can at numerous outlets. It's contains hate, sadness, envy, violence, and prejudice with a liberal dash of intolerance.

One dose is often sufficient for self destruction.

[Jim walker]

Thailand cracking on into the 1970s these forms of entertainment are all old hat seen it all before and even signed the protesters petitions to get these type of places closed would never consider taking my family to visit this sort of unpleasant entertainment, what will the greed for money people in Thailand think of next Bear Pits

[belg]

with the nice double , triple or more charing for your farang face, no thank you, keep you underfed exploited animals & shows

[kimamey]

I don't get it your Morons Here you are complaining with great gusto how the Thais treat animals

They treat woman worse but I never hear from you guys about your moral indignation when they are nasty with woman.

Before you start accusing people of being morons maybe you should read a bit more. There are often posts about the attitude to women on here including ones recently about the way women are treated in Thai soaps and the fact that a lot of Thai men feel they have the right to abuse women.

Despite your name you clearly aren't that good at reading English and judging by your post not too good writing either so maybe it's yyour lack of English that's the problem.

[northernjohn]

What PC bologna. Tigers and dolphins are not what's important in life at all, but everyone is saying they should be...really...like any of us has ever eaten a dolphin or fried tiger gonads. Sure, let's all do what we're told and nod our heads at the appropriate moments.....like that makes life better for us or the animals concerned. What drivel and utter crap. No. I refuse to be a robot for BS arguments. All the PETA idiots can now go back to patting each other on the back and being successful at trying to censor all debate under the cloying blanket of false altruism. Congratulations -- you stifled free expression better than Stalin ever did -- and for all the right reasons too. I protest. I disagree, and I I hate anyone who mouths such platitudes. The quotes are from people who make their living from being spokespersons for correctness, and they, themselves contribute nothing -- a last cull of such conservation nuts found that not a single one had ever made a cash donation to the causes they rant about...I guess the logic is "I get paid to do this, why should I contribute? I'm your hero -- you pay me."

Yeah, right. It is all minimalist BS aimed to make people feel like they are doing something. Raising awareness does not tie a baby's shoes.

I don't eat sentient animals, including dolphins and whales and primates. But roast some mutton, beef or chicken and I am there with no guilt. I am not accepting guilt for being an omnivore. No way, no how, and piss off with the pseudo-religious arguments.

I like being human, with all of it's contradictions and difficulties...but push comes to shove, if the choice is my little girl or the one-eyed barfing beetle...the beetle has to go. Get over it -- thaat's never going to change. Ever. And not for any of the hypocrits bleating to save all cute animals either.

Animal rights actrvists never care about human beings, that's too complicated, so they latch onto the easiest and most socially lazy approach altogether and embrace the new pastoral conceit,

Blah! We should all puke...and then eat some more beef (maybe vomitoriums are needed now more than ever).

The test of our humanity it's been said, is how we treat the vulnerable, whether human or non-human. How we do this, not when the eyes of the world are on us, but when no-one is watching, is what defines who and what we really are. How can anyone ever think it's acceptable to take some living thing from the wild (or worse still, breed it for that purpose) to deprive it of freedom, for it's entire life, for entertainment? Let me say that again... for entertainment!

A Gorilla in a cage for 27 years with nothing else but a tyre? Convicted murderers and rapists are not treated like this. Dolphins ripped from their pods (most of whom are slaughtered) and shipped half way round the world to live in small tanks and be "trained" to jump through hoops so tourists can clap and pay cash. Tigers kept drugged for most of their lives so people can have their pictures taken with them.

Just for a second stop and think and replace the Gorilla, the Tiger or the Dolphin with a human being. Not a person on the planet would agree this to be acceptable behaviour, so why should it acceptable for animals to be treated like this. No brainer really.

Now to have the privilege to glimpse a Gorilla or a Tiger in it's natural habitat or see a pod of Dolphins in the wild, now you're talking. But the greed of man will continue to be driven by money. People, myself included, are more and more willing to pay top dollar to see these animals in the wild, but not if there's a sniff of exploitation. Those who profit from exploitation generally, thankfully, do not have the wit to realise this.

You can only live in hope that in 50 years time, we'll look back on this kind of exploitation the same as we now do on slavery. The reality is, most of these animals will likely be extinct by the time that happens. Think on, once they're gone, they're gone.

Well at least you allow us to eat them.

Eating is necessary for life, be it animal or vegetable diet.

Entertainment and amusement is for enjoyment.

The allowance is determined by ones intelligence.

It is determined by what one prefers to eat. Intelligence has no preference it just tells you that you must eat.

[northernjohn]

Thailand cracking on into the 1970s these forms of entertainment are all old hat seen it all before and even signed the protesters petitions to get these type of places closed would never consider taking my family to visit this sort of unpleasant entertainment, what will the greed for money people in Thailand think of next Bear Pits

Always nice to see some one see's it all before they condemn it.

You don't need to see any of it to know it is wrong to treat animals that way.

What is wrong is to think it is wrong to treat some animals that way and OK to treat other animals that way because you like the taste of them.

All so I would include women inn that. I know it doesn't count with a lot of people because of their own low opinion of women.

The whole subject disgusts me with the hypocrisy in it.

I eat Pork, Chicken and beef. I have also be known to eat Deer, Elk, Moose and Caribou. I treat women with the same respect I treat a man if not more. I will often hold a door for a women or some other curtsy for them.

Yes I am a hypocrite but for that reason I do not go on crusades against people who choose to condemn the handling of certain animals. I have seen the Elephant shows and will not go back as I do not enjoy them. I have seen the Tiger shows and will not go back because I did not enjoy them and the same with the monkeys. I will admit that I might go back to the snake show I find them hard to believe because of my fear of snakes.

I have known more than a few humans who are incapable of forming intimate relationships because of their love for animals. Dog lovers are the worse they automatically assume that every one loves there dog and allow them to jump on others.

Fire away. I admit my faults in the matter and am willing to take the abuse from the animal lovers.

[Jim walker]

Thailand cracking on into the 1970s these forms of entertainment are all old hat seen it all before and even signed the protesters petitions to get these type of places closed would never consider taking my family to visit this sort of unpleasant entertainment, what will the greed for money people in Thailand think of next Bear Pits

Always nice to see some one see's it all before they condemn it.

You don't need to see any of it to know it is wrong to treat animals that way.

What is wrong is to think it is wrong to treat some animals that way and OK to treat other animals that way because you like the taste of them.

All so I would include women inn that. I know it doesn't count with a lot of people because of their own low opinion of women.

The whole subject disgusts me with the hypocrisy in it.

I eat Pork, Chicken and beef. I have also be known to eat Deer, Elk, Moose and Caribou. I treat women with the same respect I treat a man if not more. I will often hold a door for a women or some other curtsy for them.

Yes I am a hypocrite but for that reason I do not go on crusades against people who choose to condemn the handling of certain animals. I have seen the Elephant shows and will not go back as I do not enjoy them. I have seen the Tiger shows and will not go back because I did not enjoy them and the same with the monkeys. I will admit that I might go back to the snake show I find them hard to believe because of my fear of snakes.

I have known more than a few humans who are incapable of forming intimate relationships because of their love for animals. Dog lovers are the worse they automatically assume that every one loves there dog and allow them to jump on others.

Fire away. I admit my faults in the matter and am willing to take the abuse from the animal lovers.

You don’t need to be a hypocrite to treat a woman with respect it’s just the way I was brought up by my parents obviously you have a few issues with this in the past hope you don’t walk about with the wife beater vest on wearing it with pride and your chest sticking out , when I say I have seen it all before we have TV’s in the UK when I was a child we went to safari parks to see the animals roaming around free and as far as dogs go I have always had dogs and cats since I was a child and they normally came from re homing centres and I donate every month to Soi Dog in Thailand so I am a dog lover then again so is my Thai wife and it’s her choice not mine. And there is nothing wrong with being a vegetarian that’s my choice so you stick into your pork and beef and enjoy it because it’s your choice and I won’t accuse you of being a degenerate hypocrite with your bacon roll.

[Bangna Betty]

So Dolphin World says all their dolphins were rescued from beachings or nets? The fact they weren't returned to the sea and left to carry on their lives makes me think that they were 'rescued' and sold on. It is sad to see that attractions like Dolphin World are still flourishing. And the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo is disgusting.

[manarak]

Nothing worse than seeing animals being paraded around for profit

what a dumb thing to say... there are many, infinitely worse things than that.

[gemini81]

At least that animal show with Chalerm is over, that took more of a toll on the nation! This is ...rather trivial filler space for a page in a newspaper.