Angkor Wat Is Officially Putting A Stop To All Of Its Elephant Rides

With a growing campaign against elephant rides, the popularly known Cambodia has joined the movement by deciding to ban elephant rides at the historical tourist attraction, Angkor Wat.

Implementing the ban in 2020, the outrage began back in 2016 when news report emerged of an elephant who collapsed and passed away from tiredness after being used as transportation for tourist.

Last year, an animal was reported dead from exhaustion and in less than 48 hours over 15,000 people signed up a petition to put an end to the cruel practice.

Specifically, the Angkor Elephant Group Committee has officially put a stop to animal abuse.

Oan Kiry, the committee’s director told the Phnom Penh Post in an interview: ‘In early 2020, our association plans to end the use of elephants in transporting tourists. While elephants will henceforth be watched and photographed in our breeding and conversation center, we want all elephants to live naturally.’

However, the world’s largest religious monument, Angkor Wat is visited by over 2.5million international tourists yearly. Currently, it has about 14 overworked elephants.

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