Find Out Why Ricky Gervais is so Upset About This Video of a Captive Tiger

As animal lovers and activists, there are many things that we can do to raise awareness for animals. We sign petitions, share articles about animals in need, volunteer our time to care for shelter pups and cats, amongst many other little things. While there are countless amazing things we can do to benefit animals, when a celebrity picks up a cause for animals, their impact is automatically amplified beyond levels we could ever hope to reach. Take Ricky Gervais, for example.

This comedian has used his fame as a platform to raise awareness for animal testing, rescue dogs from the Yulin meat festival, and he even helped a struggling animal shelter get full funding in a matter of hours. With something as simple as a Facebook post, Gervais can reach the hearts and minds of millions of fans and help influence positive action and change for animals.

Most recently, Gervais shared a video from World Animal Protection that shows how captive tigers are treated in tourist attractions. In the video, we see a visibly drowsy chained tiger being poked and prodded with a metal stick so that it will pose for a selfie. As Gervais explains in the caption, this is a common occurrence throughout Thailand, and elsewhere, where tigers are bred, beaten, and chained to become money-making props.

Considering the world’s wild tiger population has dropped 95 percent in the past century, and there are currently more captive tigers in U.S. backyards than in the wild, we certainly have a major problem on our hands. We can all take action to put an end to this cruelty by refusing to attend these attractions or pay to take photos with captive animals of any kind. This message shared by Gervais is so sorely needed in the world, and we can only imagine the number of people who are now aware of the gross abuse these animals face in captivity thanks to this simple video.

You can Support Gervais on his mission to raise awareness for captive tigers by sharing this post and encouraging others to do so as well. Together we can end this industry and help the tiger population return to what it should be. To take action and sign World Animal Protection’s petition to TripAdvisor, click here.

Lead image source: Jaguar PS/Shutterstock