Hollywood: Kim Kardashian

Article: Kardashian criticized for 'animal abuse' for riding elephant

Source: Seoul News via Nate

1. [+1,931, -126] Then is horse riding animal abuse too?

2. [+1,772, -79] The criticism should be directed not at her but at the tourism company

3. [+1,398, -73] I feel worse for horses if you consider the size difference. We probably feel like 500g~1 kg to an elephant. People should be fighting to get rid of horse racing arenas.

4. [+58, -0] I've been to Laos and when tourists ride elephants, the tour guide will poke the elephant with a sharp object to keep it from going wild or to make it kneel. I'm sure the elephants have been poked many more times during their training. It doesn't matter how light a human body feels on top of an elephant because the elephants are trapped and put through abuse to be trained to this point and that's animal abuse. It's because there are consumers of this type of entertainment that these elephants are being abused.

5. [+25, -0] People aren't calling it animal abuse because they have to carry 'heavy' humans, it's animal abuse because of the training process.

6. [+17, -2] Elephants are born and raised in forests but babies are taken and poked and prodded to be trained for stuff like this. We really shouldn't be going to elephant shows for the protection of these elephants.

7. [+16, -1] Once you educate yourself on how these elephants are trained, you could never get up on one. It's really cruel~ I wish celebrities with more influence wouldn't promote this type of tourism...

8. [+14, -1] I don't think the best replies are understanding the extent of the abuse. They trap elephants from the wild and put them through all sorts of abuse in order to tame them. It's not only the people who trap them that are a part of the problem but consumers too.

9. [+12, -2] Elephants are highly intelligent and sociable animals who even hold funerals for fellow elephants. It upsets me that baby elephants are beaten and chained just to play a few tricks in front of humans. If adult elephants don't listen, trainers will even abuse their baby elephants right in front of them to force them to. We really need things to change and people to educate themselves on stuff like this. Don't just get mad that you're considered an animal abuser because you went to Thailand and rode an elephant. Educate yourself instead.

10. [+12, -0] I'm still so surprised that Thailand includes elephant experiences in their tourism packages. I was planning day trip experiences for my recent trip and there were rarely any tours that didn't include elephants. I refuse to ever ride one, elephants or any other animals. I won't wear fur starting this winter either... I know that I alone won't make much change but I have to do it for my conscience because I feel bad for them...

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