National Geographic - Suffering unseen: The dark truth behind wildlife tourism
Captive wild animal encounters are hugely popular, thanks partly to social media. But investigation shows many creatures lead dismal lives.
This story appears in the June 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine.
By Natasha Daly - National Geographic
I’VE COME BACK to check on a baby. Just after dusk I’m in a car lumbering down a muddy road in the rain, past rows of shackled elephants, their trunks swaying. I was here five hours before, when the sun was high and hot and tourists were on elephants’ backs.
Walking now, I can barely see the path in the glow of my phone’s flashlight. When the wooden fence post of the stall stops me short, I point my light down and follow a current of rainwater across the concrete floor until it washes up against three large, gray feet. A fourth foot hovers above the surface, tethered tightly by a short chain and choked by a ring of metal spikes. When the elephant tires and puts her foot down, the spikes press deeper into her ankle...................
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