A heartbreaking photo of a baby elephant that shows the poor animal being forced to perform for the entertainment of some guests has surfaced on the internet.
The chilling photo shows the endangered animal, wrapped in a white sheet, being brought to a party going on near the pool of the Phuket’s Mövenpick Resort Bangtao Beach hotel in Thailand.
The hotel posted the photo of the animal on their Facebook page for which an animal rights charity confronted them, saying that it is not right to use elephants, or any other animal, as “ridiculous party props.”
The hotel has since deleted the photo from their Facebook page.
Amy Jones, from the animal rights charity Moving Animals, said: “Elephants are sensitive, intelligent animals, not products to be used as a ridiculous party prop.
“Mövenpick Resort Bangtao Beach should not be promoting and supporting such cruelty, and this stunt will undoubtedly be bad for business as more and more tourists turn away from activities which exploit elephants.
“Earlier this year, Phuket made headlines after Moving Animals released photographs and footage of an skeletal baby elephant, ‘Dumbo‘, who was forced to ‘rave’ to music and perform tricks for tourists entertainment.
“No elephant should have to suffer from this kind of abuse, and Phuket must take steps to make sure that these beautiful animals are protected.”
The resort where this happened is owned by the Accor Group and one night’s stay at the place costs a minimum of $157.
It is sad to note that this is not the first act of cruelty against animals, particularly elephants, in Thailand.
A few months back, a disgraceful video of a malnourished and extremely thin elephant being forced to dance for an audience surfaced on social media.
A crowd of insensitive onlookers was seen cheering in the background.
The clip showed the trainers of the animals poking their foreheads with pointy rods, supposedly to teach the animals that any disobedience can result in corporal punishment.
At one point, when one of the elephants moved away from the place it was supposed to be, the trainer was seen pulling it back from its ear.
Replaced!