In one of our articles, we listed a bunch of tips, tricks, and hacks for sustainable travel. Something we didn’t explicitly touch on in was the animal tourism industry.
To understand more about this industry, we spoke with Aaron ‘Bertie’ Gekoski, a photojournalist, presenter, and filmmaker who’s been working at the coalface of conservation and exposing human-animal conflict for over a decade. Listen to our podcast episode with Bertie here.
In this article, Bertie helps us uncover the truth behind the animal tourism Industry and provides some advice on how to both avoid cruel tourist attractions and support those working to genuinely help conserve wildlife.
Note: All images in this article were taken by Aaron ‘Bertie’ Gekoski
Contents: Animal Tourism
- Aaron ‘Bertie’ Gekoski: A Quick Intro Jump to section
- The Problem With Animal Tourism Jump to section
- What Can Be Done To Stop The Cruelty Of The Animal Tourism Industry Jump to section
Aaron ‘Bertie’ Gekoski: A Quick Intro
There are very few people in the world who dedicate their lives to a purpose greater than their own. Aaron ‘Bertie’ Gekoski is one of those people.
Growing up in London, Bertie had a knack for remembering all the commercials on TV. He didn’t want to become a doctor or firefighter or even an astronaut. He dreamed of working in advertising. By his own admission, this was a bit left field and maybe also telling that he was not one for the conventional.
Fast forward a couple of decades and you would find Bertie heading up his own modeling agency in London, attending “nightclubs and smart model parties” and driving a sports car to match. He had achieved his childhood goal by the age of 28 years old. But there was something missing.
Well aware of his interest in wildlife and documentaries, he decided to pack it all in, give up the glitz and glamour and take the road less traveled.
Taking the bull by the horns, he took a short course in wildlife filmmaking and then he made his way to Mozambique where he volunteered for 18 months on a shark finning documentary. It wasn’t long before he became the behind the scenes photographer.
But he didn’t just take the hard-hitting stills, he started writing about it and that’s when he fell in love with environmental journalism.
Bertie’s articles and images have appeared in more than 40 international publications, winning multiple awards including the 2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Photojournalist Category.
He went on to present wildlife shows and fronted nearly 100 different episodes across different productions, including an online series for Smithsonian and Discovery’s Shark Week.
After becoming increasingly interested in the animal tourism industry, Bertie decided to take on the challenge of showing the world the true story of the cruelty that these animals endure. With all the motivation and some private funding behind him, Bertie made for the epicenter of wildlife tourism, Thailand.
He visited some of the most infamous attractions in Bangkok and Phuket: orangutan boxing matches, tightrope walking elephants, bicycle riding monkeys, badly beaten crocodiles and tigers posing for pictures and selfies, to name just a few.
The Problem With Animal Tourism
Over 100 million people visit animal tourism attractions every year.
Sadly, the vast majority of us who make up those stats are completely unaware of the cruelty that takes place behind the scenes. There are estimated to be half a million animals that are beaten and abused and made to perform for entertainment.
Many of the tourists whom Bertie interviewed after the shows said that they thought the animals looked healthy and were enjoying it. A clear reflection of their lack of understanding of natural animal behavior.
At risk of stating the obvious, animals do not ordinarily behave the way they do when in a show. For example:
- An orangutan spends almost its entire life in the canopy, it would be rare to see one on the ground or living in a cage.
- Tigers would never placidly lie next to a foreign tiger let alone a human.
- Crocodiles keep their mouths open to moderate their body temperature, not because their handler’s head happens to be in between their jaws.
This curious animal behavior begs the question, why are they doing it? Why are they seemingly happy to comply?
The short answer is because they’re beaten.
They’re beaten and attacked until they’re too afraid to retaliate. There’s even a term for the ‘training’ of an elephant, it’s called “the crush” which is designed to break their spirits by continued physical abuse.
“Their eyes are dead, there’s just nothing there.”
Of course, the average tourist will never see this side of the wildlife tourism industry.
Nor will they see the living conditions of these animals which, according to Bertie, are heartbreaking.
“Elephants so drugged up they could hardly stand. Tigers that were absolutely emaciated, stuck on these tiny chains so they couldn’t walk around, a gorilla at the top of a filthy shopping mall…orangutans kept in these disgusting cages or cells, an orangutan prison.” – Aaron ‘Bertie’ Gekoski
We asked Bertie how anyone could bring themselves to treat another living being like this.
He explained that while many western states are far from perfect, they typically have a different level of empathy for animals than those who view them simply for consumption and enjoyment.
China’s traditional medicine industry is a case in point. It is wiping out endangered species at an incredible rate.
For example, the last male Northern White Rhino died on 19 March 2018.
His species was decimated by the demand for rhino horn, given its use as a traditional remedy to cure a variety of ailments from headaches, hallucinations, high blood pressure, typhoid, snakebite, food poisoning and low libido.
Unfortunately, the solutions to these situations are still far off. Hundreds of years of culture, superstition, belief systems, and behaviors means there are no short-term solutions for this problem.
However, Bertie notes, there are signs that the younger generation is changing. Following a spate of negative press around the culling of sharks, the consumption of shark fin soup is in decline across China.
The media, he explains, is the biggest weapon we have in the fight against the animal tourism industry. If there’s enough negative publicity, demand will drop and the authorities will be forced to act.
What Can Be Done To Stop The Cruelty Of The Animal Tourism Industry
While tourists can take to social media to ring the alarm bells, Bertie says most platforms aren’t doing enough to educate users or raise awareness:
“[On tripadvisor] up to 80% of people leave positive reviews for attractions that are treating animals cruelly”.
And while Instagram has taken a stand against it (for example posting a picture with the #tigerselfie will come up with a warning), he says there needs to be more information out there, more needs to be done.
To this end, Bertie continues to focus his time on raising awareness on animal tourism, the pet trade, the Illegal wildlife trade, deforestation, and other animal welfare topics. He continues to do this through imagery and documentaries and shares much of his work on Instagram and Facebook.
Advice For Anyone Planning a Wildlife Tourism Getaway?
Research, read reviews and do your homework. There are, Bertie says, responsible organizations out there who are doing real conservation work and those are the ones you want to support.
Wildlife tourism can be a very positive experience and there is a space for ethically managed facilities that look after captive, rehabilitated and endangered animals. Not only do they serve an important role in animal conservation but they can reach and educate a much broader audience than the few truly wild places that are left ever could.
However, if you do see something that you’re alarmed by post it on Facebook and leave a negative review on TripAdvisor, and if something is truly abusive contact the authorities. There are laws against animal cruelty (which unsurprisingly is not a defined term).
Tourist attractions Bertie advises are best to avoid:
- Samutprakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Bangkok
- Safari World in Bangkok
- Phuket Safari Eco+
- Phuket Zoo
Organisations to support:
- Freeland: Organization working on stopping Wildlife Trafficking
- Wildlife Friends Foundation: Rescues and rehabilitates maltreated animals
- Elephant Nature Park: Founded by Sangduen “Lek” Chailert and a genuine sanctuary for elephants treating animals with respect and rescuing them from cruelty
This seems to be getting more and more awareness all the time, and while it’s heartbreaking to read all these stories (orangutan boxing? WHAT?!) it’s always inspiring to hear about people like Bertie trying to change it all for good. Thans for sharing, and here’s hoping we see an end to all of this soon!
Had no idea that Orangutang boxing matches even existed. Thank you for writing this article. Awareness and education is the key to changing the behaviour of people. And yes, some people really believe that animals enjoy performing. Once I was explaining to my friend why one should never do elephant riding, and she was really surprised, she thought this makes them happy. So yes, Aaron ‘Bertie’ Gekoski does a very important job.
Thanks for the comment Yana, totally agree!