ElderTreks Removes Elephant-Bathing Activities After PETA Appeal
Company to Receive Elephant-Shaped Vegan Chocolates in Thanks for Compassionate Action
For Immediate Release:
August 15, 2018
Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382
After corresponding with PETA, Toronto-based travel company ElderTreks—the world’s first adventure travel company designed for people 50 and over—has removed all elephant-bathing activities from its itineraries. In thanks for the move, which follows its previous removal of elephant rides, PETA is sending the company a box of delicious elephant-shaped vegan chocolates. Elephants in camps that offer bathing encounters often endure the same abuse as those used for rides do, such as being forcibly separated from their mothers, immobilized with tightly bound ropes, and gouged with nail-studded sticks or other sharp objects.
“ElderTreks joins dozens of other travel companies in rejecting tourist traps that use sensitive elephants as sideshow attractions,” says PETA Foundation Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Rachel Mathews. “PETA urges travelers to keep all elephant-exploiting operations off their itineraries and use only travel agencies that have pledged to do the same.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that all activities that involve direct contact with elephants contribute to the demand for wild capture and captive breeding of these animals to be used at tourist attractions. In addition, such activities are dangerous and can even be fatal: Not only have captive elephants been known to lash out in frustration, they also can carry tuberculosis, which they can transmit to humans.
Numerous companies—including Adventures Within Reach, Alexander+Roberts, Collette, Costco Travel, Gate 1 Travel, Grand Circle Corporation, Shore Excursions Group, Tauck, and TripAdvisor—have committed to not offering elephant rides, and PETA is now calling on other travel companies to do the same.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
