Still no knock-out punch

Edwin Wiek of Wildlife Friends of Thailand describes the state of animal rights in this country as being “two steps forward, one step back”. While the government should be praised for cracking down on the ivory trade, I don’t believe there have been any improvements in the treatment of domestic elephants that are routinely abused by the tourism industry.

And it was stomach-turning to read in that article about orangutan “boxing shows” at the Safari World amusement park in Bangkok.

Although people complain that the animal-welfare bill is open to alternative interpretations, it at least gives animal-rights activists something to work with. 

If they haven’t done so already, they need to follow the example of the movement in America and go undercover to document the abuse of animals. For example, I would like to know what was done behind the scenes to get the orangutans to “agree” to box one another. 

Let’s strive for three steps 

forward and no steps back.

Eric Bahrt