Responsible Tourist... Responsible Australian

Australians love to travel... especially in Asia! We love the food, we love the beer and we love a good bargain - but it all comes at a great cost and not the cost that we bear.

When you visit a new country, enjoy it and fall in love with it, the last thing you want to find out is that while on holiday you unknowingly supported cruelty to animals, illegal poaching of endangered animals or the destruction of those beautiful habitats you trekked or snorkeled. But it happens everyday.

In many countries around Asia, government restriction and police regulation is much more frivolous when it comes to the conservation of their wildlife and ecosystems. It is therefore extremely important that holiday-makers understand exactly what they are paying for when they are a tourist in a foreign land. 

Giddy Up Elephant

Riding on the back of an Asian elephant is a popular "must-do" for tourists around the world when they travel Asia. Most people have ridden an elephant in their lifetime, admittedly I have as a child, but how many have questioned why such a large and powerful animal will unconditionally obey humans - who are smaller and weaker? 

There is a reason and it horrifies those who learn of it. It is the method of training inflicted on elephants while they are young. In countries such as Thailand where elephant riding is common, young wild elephants are taken away from their mother and herd to these training camps. In Thailand's case, removing elephants from the wild is illegal, so trainers obtain their elephant calf by taking it from a neighboring country without these restrictions - a sneaky loophole. 

Once they have carted the young and terrified animal accross the border, they begin training. The calf is secured in a tiny bamboo cage - worse than battery hen standards - where it must stay for days on end without food or water. Additionally, the calf is beaten with sticks and hot pokers are shoved into its ear holes. This is because elephants have tough skin, except for their ear canals so the torture is more effective. The young animal of course cries in pain and it's suffering is audibly and visibly evident.

The aim of this cruel exercise is to break the animals spirit. Once the animal is broken, it goes on to its next phase of training - either for labour elephant (e.g. logging) or for tourism. Either way, the method is gruesome and everyday tourists support this industry without knowing. All elephants used for elephant riding are trained using this method as no other training method to date has worked. 

Tiger Skins Half Price

 

Every year, tourists unwittingly support the illegal wildlife trade as they buy endangered species as souvenirs. A lot of the time they do not even know that they are even supporting the trade because their item was purchased  from shops or from markets out in the open. In many countries, there is a lack of regulation or laws governing animal poaching and the sale of animal parts so the devastation of animal populations occurs out in the open.

Exotic endangered species that are admired by our country, such as the tiger, orang utan and Asian elephant to name a few, are taking a hammering from the illegal wildlife trade. Beautiful wild tigers once numbered around 100 000 across Asia, now because of habitat loss and illegal poaching, fewer than 3500 exist today.

 

When on holiday, look out for elephant ivory carvings and jewelry, tortoise and turtle shell accessories, cat skins, reptile skin handbags, belts and shoes, porcupine quill coasters and lampshades, coral and shells, and many more. 

It is better to be safe than sorry, and this is why the International Fund for Animal Welfare have set up a website where you can pledge that as a tourist you will not buy anything made from an animal. 

http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw_european_union/join_campaigns/fight_illegal_wildlife_trade/index.php

Shark Torture and Waste Soup

If you have ever been to a Chinese or Seafood restaurant anywhere in Asia, you may have come across Shark Fin Soup on the menu. It sounds like an interesting and exotic delicacy to try while in a different country, but the story behind that bowl of soup is long, full of corruption and greed and somehow unknown to most Westerners.

Shark Fin Soup was once a delicacy that only the wealthy could afford. It was believed to carry the same powers that the creature the fin came from possessed - strength, immunity and a long life. Now you see it everywhere and can buy it for less than $4. Even the so-called "health benefits" seem more and more far-fetched considering the mercury build up in our oceans predators. 

Yet today, 100 000 000 sharks are dying in our seas because of the demand for Shark Fin Soup. This is a staggering statistic and even more unbelievable considering the cruel and wasteful method that is used to gain the shark fins. 

The fin of the shark is where the money is - the body is not worth money and therefore considered useless. Fishermen want to stock as many shark fins as they can on their boats and so to them, the body of a shark is a waste of useful space. Therefore sharks are definned the moment they are hauled out of the ocean - this means alive. Next the body is tossed back overboard where the shark, still alive, sinks to the bottom and either bleeds to death or drowns. This cruel process is also wasteful as the rest of the animal is not utilised. 

One may argue taste as a defence for shark finning, and from what  I hear, Shark Fin Soup is quite delectable. However, the taste does not come from the shark fin, it comes from chicken stock. Sharks are cartilaginous animals, and therefore their fin is made from cartilage - the same material as our nose and ears. The actual fin simply adds texture to the soup and an alternative shark-free soup can be made using a type of melon instead.

Therefore what you can do when you are on holiday is to NOT buy Shark Fin Soup. The amount of sharks dying at our hands for such a pointless industry is horrifying - especially since sharks are to blame for approximately only ten human deaths a year. The suffering shark population is becoming increasingly obvious to snorkelers, divers, locals, fishermen and researchers. The industry is driven by demand and therefore when the demand stops, the killing will too.