WTH?! People Are Painting Elephants and Making Them Play ‘World Cup’ Soccer While Being Ridden by Jockeys

The FIFA World Cup is a great event to celebrate … but not at the expense of innocent animals. Unfortunately, soccer fans in Thailand are prioritizing their love of the sport by using elephants, yes, elephants to play soccer. Not only is this completely uncalled for and silly but it’s cruel! A Care2 Petition is urging the Thailand government to step in and step up for these treasured animals.

The elephants are first painted with the flags of the countries competing in the actual World Cup. During these “elephant soccer matches,” elephants are forced to run after regular sized soccer balls while being ridden by jockeys. Others have to stand in front of the goals while soccer balls are kicked at them. As you can imagine- between the heat, the noisy spectators, and having the ball kicked at them, these poor elephants are miserable! Sports are fun when both teams and all involved CHOOSE to participate, these elephants have no choice. Sign the petition and be a voice for them!

Whenever you see an elephant (or any animal for that matter) performing unnaturally, you have to ask yourself where the animals came from and what had to happen to get them to perform in such a way. Sadly, many of the elephants used for entertainment are taken away from their mothers at a very young age and endure agonizing torture to be “broken” and trained. After this, they are kept in chains with little to no social interactions with other elephants, an important part of normal elephant life. They are forced into a life of captivity and servitude, all for the purposes of human entertainment.

Again, the FIFA World Cup is a great cause for celebration but these majestic animals should be celebrated also- by living free and respected without the interference of selfish humans. The Thai government needs to put a stop to this demeaning spectacle and tell the organizers that there are much more fun and rewarding ways to celebrate the FIFA World Cup.

Image Source: Pixabay