Thailand zoo horror revealed in sickening snaps showing emaciated animals shackled in tiny cages
Brit photographer exposes what he dubs as ‘wildlife house of horrors’ at Pata and Phuket zoos while tourists
THESE heartbreaking images of zoo animals caged after being exploited in sick shows are enough to shock anyone.
The inhabitants of these cages are there solely to be watched by tourists, which lays bare the sheer cruelty that passes for entertainment in Thailand.
Orangutans are shown being forced to fight in boxing rings with gloves strapped to their hands, an elephant performs tricks on a stone stage and then afterwards they are locked up with the others in hellish conditions.
Environmental photojournalist Aaron Gekoski witnessed the shows on a tour of the country's zoos and is now campaigning for more restrictions over the industry.
Safari World near capital Bangkok, Thailand, put on the orangutan boxing bouts for crowds of holidaymakers to watch the animals battle it out in the ring.
The mocked up fighters are put in gloves and shorts while female apes are dressed up as ring girls in bikinis and miniskirts.
He also saw the animals egged on by their handlers to perform a number of stunts on the stage before the fighting begins.
Aaron, 37, said: “The orangutans are forced into hideous pantomime routines.
“For some reason, people found it funny watching these beautiful, sentient, intelligent animals having their pants pulled down or pretending to fight each other.
“The orangutans are not doing it because they want to, they are doing it because they are forced to.
“One can only imagine how these animals were trained in order to perform like this.”
But describing the show Safari World website unashamedly writes: “Who could miss the world’s first and only orangutan boxing show .. starring the funniest and hairiest champions of the Olympics?
“Whether hanging upside down or rightside up be sure to hang out with the orangutans at Safari World.”
Aaron has been documenting Thailand’s wildlife tourism industry and claims more than half a million animals worldwide can be subjected to horrific abuse in order to entertain.
He also witnessed apparent animal abuse in Pata Zoo and Phuket Zoo.
Aaron added: “What I witnessed was shocking and incredibly distressing.
“It really was a wildlife house of horrors.
“Posing for a tiger selfie, riding on the back of an elephant, watching dolphin shows: over 100 million visit cruel wildlife tourism attractions every
year.
It really was a wildlife house of horrors
Environmental photojournalist Aaron Gekoski
“Yet behind the shows and performances lies a dark side to the industry.
“We saw grossly overweight or underweight orangutans kept in tiny cages or forced to box each other.
"A gorilla was living in a filthy ‘cell’ at the top of a shopping mall, drugged elephants shackled to chains by night and then made to ‘dance’ or play football all day and emaciated tigers kept on tiny chains so they could barely move.
"Monkeys were dressed up, yanked around on leads and made to ride bikes."
Aaron said: “Many animals are beaten and mistreated and have their spirits broken by handlers, rendering them completely submissive.
“Yet most tourists aren’t aware of the abuse that takes place or how poor the quality of life is for many captive animals.”
British-born Aaron, a winner at this year's wildlife photographer of the year, now plans to return to Thailand to shoot a documentary exposing the
alleged abuses and is crowdfunding his next visit.
He said: “A long-term goal is to create a global platform so tourists can ‘raise the red flag’ on abusive operators by posting photos, videos and reviews - a little like Trip Advisor, but focused on Wildlife Tourism.
“At the moment, it’s hard to get reliable information online and research has shown that 80 per cent of visitors leave positive reviews on Tripadvisor for venues that are treating animals cruelly.
“Change is possible when people vote with their feet and don’t visit these places."
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Animal rights groups slammed the exploitation of the orangutans.
Chris Draper, Head of Animal Welfare & Captivity at the Born Free Foundation, said: "These images depict the exploitative and utterly disrespectful use of wild animals, being forced to entertain the ill-informed and mindless.”
The Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, which have been fighting against the Far East country’s industry for 17 years, said: “Thailand has numerous zoos and other attractions which clearly exploit both wild and domestic animals.
“Each attraction has a different history and some are operating illegally, and obtaining animals illegally.
“This is clearly visible in a well know Bangkok zoo I visited myself last week, where I witnessed huge numbers of infant chimpanzees and orangutans.”
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