Responding to the 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' star's Bali post, a representative for the animal rights organization states that a visit to the camp 'directly supports the abuse.'
- May 2, 2019
AceShowbiz - Kim Kardashian has enraged animal rights activists by posting a snap of herself with a captive elephant on Instagram.
The U.S. reality star reminisced about her trip to the Indonesian island of Bali in an online post on Tuesday, April 30, writing: "Missing Bali! (leaf emoji) (elephant emoji) and the amazing elephant sanctuary."
However, such 'sanctuaries' are controversial as those which allow visitors to ride the animals often have cruel training practices. In the photo, Kim stands next to a local riding the elephant. She was also filmed riding on the back of an elephant in a recent episode of her reality show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians".
Condemning Kim, a representative of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), told WENN: "All over the world, tourist traps offer the chance to climb onto an elephant's back without divulging to the visitors what these animals endure in order to force them to allow this. Baby elephants' spirits are broken through an egregiously cruel process in which still-nursing elephants are dragged away from their mothers, immobilised, and gouged with bullhooks and nails."
"These horrific, ritualised training sessions often leave elephants severely injured and traumatised, and some don't survive. Riding elephants or visiting camps that force elephants to come into contact with humans directly supports this abuse."
Her Instagram followers also slammed the star for promoting 'sanctuaries' that allow people to ride elephants.
"So disappointing," one angry user wrote. "Stop using your influence to support (inadvertantly (sic), I hope) abuse of Earth's most intelligent and emotional animals. THERE IS NO HUMANE WAY to tame an elephant to be ridable (sic)."
Kim was criticised at the time for her trip to Bali in October, but defended her choice to visit the sanctuary.
"We visited an elephant sanctuary that has rescued these elephants from Sumatra where they would have otherwise gone extinct. It is an organization that is working to save these beautiful animals. We did full research before going," she tweeted.
