Stop Elephant Race, Soccer and Beauty Pageant Competition in Nepal
- Animal Rights Club (ARC) - Nepal
- Closed on
- Target:
- President of International Elephant Race Organizer Committee
- Region:
- Nepal
- Website:
- www.facebook.com
Thanks to everyone who signed and supported this campaign to end elephant race in Sauraha, Nepal.
The petition was able to achieve some attention of the elephant race organizer and due to this, they were forced to change the name of "10th International Elephant Race - 2013" to "10th Chitwan Elephant Festival".
But our fight is not over yet. We will continue our fight until such activities are removed. Anyway, thanks everyone for your long-term support.
For the past ten years, Nepal has been hosting elephant festival that includes “The Elephant Games”.
The games feature trained elephants playing human sports, like soccer and racing. Elephants are forced to run in the competition and if they don't obey then they are beaten with sickle and bull hooks. The elephants are also subjected to a beauty pageant where their toes and other body parts are painted with toxic paints. But, being an aware citizen or a responsible tourist, it is our duty to raise voice against such activities. Action must be taken to spare these endangered animals from being used as toys for human entertainment.
The annual December festival is the attempt of Nepal to promote tourism and conservation awareness of endangered Asian elephants but if we see nicely then this has been only an attempt to promote tourism. We can compare this condition with two tyres of a cycle where one tyre seems in very loose condition. Elephants are an endangered species in Nepal, and they are facing severe habitat loss and such competition has made the problem more deeper. These games do not promote any kind of conservation for their environment and within the next four years the organizer committee hope to build a stadium designed specifically to house the elephant games. If they succeed to build such stadium then it will be one of the most shameful and selfish step in the name of conservation.
These games are unethical to the elephant species. The animals are subjected to ridicule and forced to perform human acts so that people can be entertained. Attending an elephant game is no different than going to a circus. Endangered species should not be subjected to such types of forceful entertainment. They should be in their natural habitats, and we should do whatever possible to protect them.
The people of Nepal need to realize that forcing elephants to perform ridiculous acts is not going to help conservation efforts. So, we need to work on other alternatives for the conservation.
Annual elephant games are unethical. Having endangered species perform and compete in human events is no way to help any conservation efforts. Your idea to conserve the endangered Asian elephants by building the stadium within 4 years will be one of the most selfish and shameful step in the name of conservation. Every elephant left in Nepal is a gift, and making them prance around to be judged is no way to honor them.
Their habitat is constantly being destroyed, which is one reason why they are endangered. If you are really conscious about conserving endangered Asian elephants then you can help them by establishing a park where they can have natural environment. You can succeed in conservation efforts by actually conserving land for these animals to live.
We are aware about the abuse of endangered Asian Elephants. Thus, we need to conserve them. So, we, the aware citizen and responsible tourist, petition you to end these games.
The Stop Elephant Race, Soccer and Beauty Pageant Competition in Nepal petition to President of International Elephant Race Organizer Committee was written by Animal Rights Club (ARC) - Nepal and is in the category Animal Rights at GoPetition.