Showing posts with label Commercial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Commercial. Show all posts

Thursday 6 July 2017

#Thailand leads the pack for Asia's abused tourist elephants

Twice as many elephants work in Thailand's tourism industry as the rest of Asia combined, with the vast majority kept in "severely inadequate conditions", a new report revealed Thursday.

The world's largest land mammal is a huge draw for tourists across two continents. But while Africa's elephants are more likely to be spotted roaming vast nature reserves, their Asian cousins are less fortunate.

A multi-million dollar industry has flourished in recent decades with tourists taking rides on the giant beasts or watching them perform in circus shows.

Researchers from World Animal Protection spent two years visiting 220 venues using elephants across Asia, in what they describe as the most comprehensive survey to date of a rapidly growing, lucrative, but poorly regulated industry.

Their data showed pachyderm welfare routinely came in second place to turning a fast profit, with three-quarters of Asia's captive elephants kept in conditions that were rated poor or unacceptable.
 
 
 Thailand stood out as the global epicentre. Of the 2,923 elephants WAP documented working within Asia's tourism trade, 2,198 were found in Thailand alone. 
 
The next largest industry was India, with an estimated 617 elephants, followed by Sri Lanka on 166, Nepal on 147, Laos on 59 and Cambodia with just 36.

All the venues visited, which researchers said represented 90 percent of the industry, were rated on a scale of 1-10 in terms of conditions with 77 percent scoring between just one to five -- what researchers classified as "poor or unacceptable".

"When not giving rides or performing, the elephants were typically chained day and night, most of the time to chains less than three metres long. They were also fed poor diets, given limited appropriate veterinary care and were frequently kept on concrete floors in stressful locations," the report said.

'Tourists can push change' 


India fared the worst on living conditions with an average score of 4.4, followed by Thailand on 4.6, Nepal on 4.8, Sri Lanka on 4.9 and on Laos 5.0.

Cambodia averaged 6.5 but researchers noted there were just 36 elephant in four venues, two of which got good marks.

Highest rated venues rarely or never chained their elephants, limited or banned close interactions with tourists and allowed the animals to socialise in herds.

In Thailand only eight venues were rated as good, compared to 114 rated poor.

Jan Schmidt-Burbach, a Thailand-based expert with WAP, said tourists had the power to improve captive elephant lives by choosing venues that promote observing animals over interacting with them.

"As a general rule, if you can ride, hug or have a selfie with a wild animal it's cruel and you just shouldn't do it," he told AFP.

Researchers added that the 30 percent increase in Thailand's tourist elephant population since 2010 was based mostly in poorly rated venues.

Thailand's elephant entertainment industry took hold in the 1990s after authorities banned the use of elephants in commercial logging and owners said they had to find new revenue.

Most of that generation of elephants have now died out, yet the number of elephants involved in the trade keeps increasing. The country has more elephants in captivity than living in the wild.

WAP said they were particularly concerned by Thailand's animal circuses, where elephants can often be seen riding tricycles, walking on tightropes and even playing basketball.

"The training required to make elephants perform such tricks is particularly cruel and stressful," researchers said.

Source - TheNation

Saturday 18 March 2017

Cambodia - Air cargo service takes flight

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Cambodia Angkor Air launched what it claimed to be the country’s first domestic air cargo service yesterday, using the existing capacity of its commercial passenger flights to fill the growing demand for air shipments.
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The new service, called Angkor Express Go, will transport goods along two main flight paths, with shipments travelling between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, company representatives said.
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Eng Molina, the airline’s general manager of marketing, said there is a growing demand in Cambodia for air cargo, especially for seafood, vegetables and other perishable products that are in high demand in Siem Reap, the country’s main tourism destination. 
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“We have learned that there is a huge demand for local transportation services, including air transport,” he said. “We believe that there is a big potential for this type of operation.”
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Molina said he expects people will start shifting away from land transport and transition to the faster air service for products that depend of rapid delivery times to maintain their quality. 
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Notoriously slow road travel from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap can take 10 hours, while air service can have the goods delivered in about an hour though at a higher cost, he conceded.
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Cambodia Angkor Air already operates cargo services, but only on international flights, Molina noted, adding that the airline has transported close to 4,700 tonnes of goods since 2013.
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The carrier uses two types of aircraft on its domestic routes. It flies 68-seater ATR72 planes, capable of carrying 400 kilograms of goods, as well as larger Airbus A320s, with 180 seats and a 2,000-kilogram cargo capacity.
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Cambodia Angkor Air is one of four Cambodian carriers serving domestic routes, along with Sky Angkor Airlines, Bassaka Air and Cambodia Bayon Airlines. Startup airline JC International Airlines is scheduled to commence service today.
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Sinn Chanserey Vutha, spokesman for the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, said Cambodia already has domestic cargo services through other airlines, though he expects Cambodia Angkor Air’s new service will be popular. 
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“There is more and more demand for cargo transportation by air, both for international and domestic flights he said. “I think the new service will be used by many and will be successful.”
However, Sin Chanthy, president of the Cambodia Freight Forwarders Association, said he did not expect the new air service would result in any significant shift away from overland transport.
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“It just provides more options, but I don’t think it will be overly popular because the transportation fees will be much higher compared to land shipments,” he said. “Cambodian roads are getting much better and the transport of goods is also getting faster and easier.”
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