HUGE Win! Carnival Corporation Cancels Cruel Elephant Encounters

Win for elephants! After hearing from PETA and over 40,000 of its supporters, Carnival Corporation—the largest cruise line in the world—confirmed it no longer offers elephant excursions to operations that force abused captive elephants to be ridden or bathed by visitors.

PETA Thanks Carnival Corp. for No Longer Offering Elephant Excursions

Elephants used for baths and rides often endure abuse, such as being forcibly separated from their mothers, immobilized with tightly bound ropes, and gouged with nail-studded sticks or other sharp objects. Carnival Corporation seased the day with this much-needed policy change, which will go a long way in shutting down cruel operations that beat and chain elephants. In thanks, PETA is sending Carnival Corporation a box of delicious, elephant-shaped vegan chocolates.

Carnival Corporation—which owns Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, and many others—joins more than 50 other travel leaders, including Airbnb, Booking.com, Costco Travel, Expedia Group, Royal Caribbean, and Tripadvisor, that have pledged not to offer exploitative and dangerous encounters with elephants, which can lead to attacks on their handlers and tourists.

Why Tourists Should Never Ride Elephants or Give Them Baths

Elephants are highly social animals who live in matriarchal herds, protect one another, forage for fresh vegetation, play, bathe in rivers, and share mothering responsibilities for the herds’ babies. But elephants used for tourism are forcibly separated from their mothers as babies, immobilized with tightly bound ropes, and gouged with nail-studded sticks or other sharp objects to “break” them. As adults, elephants used for entertainment are kept chained and constantly threatened with bullhooks—weapons that resemble a fireplace poker with a sharp hook on one end—to force them to obey out of fear of punishment.

Take Action for Elephants

Elephants have extraordinary memories, so imagine the pain and sorrow they experience when they’re separated from their families and forced into servitude. You can help these animals by refusing to ride them or visit places where they’re forced to perform.