Another day, another abused animal inspires grief and anger online, but this time it’s Thailand’s own national animal.
A Call for Animal Rights, a Facebook group seeking to call attention to mistreatment of animals have posted a heartbreaking video of a small, collapsed elephant being kicked and pulled in a street of Ubon Ratchathani.
Though it is unclear what is wrong with the animal, the video shows a small elephant lying on the asphalt road while the mahout yanks its tail while kicking and shouting at it.“Get up!” he says firmly to the poor animal. The elephant, kicking its legs and rolling in apparent distress, reportedly remained down for about a minute before it was forced to stand up and continue walking.
Many people object to such treatment. The person behind filming reveals the incident happened outside his Ubon Ratchathani shop. He managed to capture the horrid behavior of the mahout after he heard locals insulting the man.
The video is the second just today to upset the online community animal with its depiction of abusive behavior. Earlier, a Facebook user removed a photo she had posted of a kitten forced to smoke marijuana.
Currently, the government is planning to implement further legal safeguards for elephants, some of whom might have been stolen from the wild and forced to work on the streets. The legislation is currently opposed by the mahout community, who threaten to parade 50 elephants from Ayutthaya to the Government House in Bangkok.
SadieMBeagle says
WTF is wrong with people!!?