Man Taunts Captive Bear in Thailand and Is Mauled
A man was attacked by a captive bear and severely injured after dangling food in front of the animal at a temple in Thailand.
Thailand – Tourist who teased a bear by dangling food in its jaws is gored and dragged inside the beast’s… https://t.co/k8Ppazuz4G
— WAR-International. (@WildlifeAtRisk) August 3, 2017
After knocking the man out and dragging him toward his cage, the bear was beaten ruthlessly with a pole by the man’s screaming friends. The injured man was later rushed to a hospital.
The monks at the temple keep the bear isolated in a cage, and allegedly, the animals in the temple’s enclosure often go hungry.
Bears are powerful predators who, in the wild, spend most of their time foraging and exploring home ranges that may cover thousands of kilometers—and smart people respect them enough to leave them alone. They suffer immensely when they’re trapped in barren concrete pits, denied everything that’s natural and important to them, and left with nothing to do but pace back and forth and beg for food, often slowly going out of their minds with frustration. While this man got away with his life, bears around the world will continue to live and die in misery as long as humans still incarcerate animals in the name of entertainment.
What You Can Do
- Never patronize zoos or other facilities that confine animals. The money spent on tickets pays for animals to be imprisoned and traded, not rescued and rehabilitated.
- If a zoo near you solicits money from corporate donors or charitable organizations and foundations, write to its sponsors and encourage them to put their money toward protecting animals in the wild instead.
- Encourage your local zoo to stop breeding animals, to pledge not to accept any animals captured from the wild, and to make space available for rescued exotic animals in need of a permanent home.
Instead of going to a zoo, you can learn about animals by watching nature documentaries or observing animals in their natural habitats instead.
