Kensington Tours Bans Abusive Elephant Encounters After PETA Appeal

Wilmington Travel Agency Joins Dozens of Others in Prohibiting Cruel Attractions, Receives Elephant-Shaped Vegan Chocolates in Thanks

For Immediate Release:
June 23, 2016

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

After learning from PETA that elephants who are used for rides in Asia and Africa are often forcibly separated from their mothers, immobilized with tightly bound ropes, and gouged with nails or other sharp objects, Wilmington-based travel agency Kensington Tours made the compassionate and business-savvy decision to remove exploitative elephant attractions from its tour itineraries.

“Kensington Tours joins dozens of major travel companies in agreeing to reject tourist traps that imprison elephants, who are highly intelligent, social animals with complex needs and wants,” says PETA Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Rachel Mathews. “PETA urges kind tourists to steer clear of captive elephant attractions and instead use travel agencies such as Kensington Tours that have pledged to do the same.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that elephants who survive training spend the rest of their lives in servitude, lugging tourists around or performing tricks under the threat of being beaten with bullhooks (weapons that resemble fireplace pokers with a metal hook on one end) or other sharp objects. Elephant attractions are also dangerous to humans. More than a dozen tourists have been killed in the past 15 years by elephants who have lashed out in Thailand, and tuberculosis—a deadly disease that is transmissible from animals to humans—has been documented in captive Asian and African elephants.

Kensington Tours offers custom private tours, cruises, and other travel experiences in more than 90 countries.

The travel agency will receive a box of elephant-shaped vegan chocolates from PETA and joins Collette, Costco Travel, Butterfield & Robinson, Mayflower Tours, Tauck, and others in agreeing not to promote exploitative captive-elephant businesses.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.