The largest religious monument in the world (which is visited by over 2.5 million international tourists each year) is at last set to end cruel elephant rides at the illustrious landmark.
While the positives of this decision certainly cannot be overlooked, few questions remain, such as why early 2020 and not immediately. Also, rather than this being a proactive exercise it seems to be more reactive and an effort to end widespread criticism and backlash. In 2016, an elephant ferrying two tourists collapsed and died, at the time, The Independent reported a veterinary examination that attributed the cause of death to, “high temperatures, heat exhaustion and lack of wind that would have aided in cooling her”.
