(TITC) - On July 2018, Yok Don National Park (Dak Lak Province) and Animals Asia Foundation signed memorandum of understanding on the conversion to an elephant friendly tourism model project.
Funded 65,000 USD for five years (from July 2018 to June 2023), the park will stop providing elephant rides to tourists, stop using elephants for festival activities, allow elephants to roam in the forest, free from chains. Tourists will observe the animals in their natural habitat.
Riding elephants in tourism activities can endure conditions which greatly harm their welfare. They undergo a process known as “the crush” during which they are confined and beaten with bullhooks. When not giving rides, the animals are often chained, unable to express natural behaviours and kept in isolation. The new tourism model would change the perspective of tourists towards elephant rides while also enabling rangers to complete their duty of protecting the forest and all its inhabitants.
The agreement also includes awareness raising on elephant and other wildlife conservation in Dak Lak, improving service quality and infrastructure for tourism development at Yok Don National Park, promoting new tourism services to domestic and international tourists.
Hong Thanh