It was the same in Cabo. We were told the cubs were drugged a bit to keep them docile. We never actually saw them but were warned several times. It’s really sad.
A few years back I was planning a trip to Thailand. My Turkish auntie runs a travel service so one of her employees was helping us (my cousin and I) plan everything. She originally asked for a “wish list” for what we wanted to do, and of course we included interacting with different animals, elephants and tigers included. This was pre-research on my end as well, and she had relayed back what their partner agency said, which was exactly this and they wouldn’t help us with the tigers. She included “I can’t in good conscience help you plan an excursion like this, but I can block out half a day for you to figure it out yourselves and go visit them.” Of course we completely disregard that as an option after hearing about this, and also my respect for the lady went up to 100% after that.
Not gonna lie, I still very much would love to interact with such a majestic big kitty, but never at the expense of the big kitty itself, and the ripple effect it creates.
About ~15 years ago my wife (girlfriend at the time) and I took a cruise down to Cabo, and in the port area was a little shop set up where you could get pictures with a baby lion and a tiger!! Obviously we were super jazzed (and young and naive) and so we did it. It was about $20 - they were incredibly lethargic, and basically just laid in our laps while we gave them some pets and got some pictures.... There were also baby donkeys that they would lay on your lap, iguanas, parrots, and a variety of other animals.
Fast forward to when we got back from the cruise and looked it up - and it was incredibly sad, and we felt like complete fucking assholes for doing it.
Not only do they drug the baby animals to make them docile, but they also basically force them to breed, then take the babies far too young, and once they are old enough that they could hurt someone, they are slaughtered. :( They are kept in tiny cages and abused their whole lives. Real shitty.
Needless to say, I am very happy that Carnival is letting their passengers know to stay away from these places.
Modz_B_Trippin on May 3rd, 2024 at 03:08 UTC »
It was the same in Cabo. We were told the cubs were drugged a bit to keep them docile. We never actually saw them but were warned several times. It’s really sad.
pinklavalamp on May 3rd, 2024 at 03:49 UTC »
A few years back I was planning a trip to Thailand. My Turkish auntie runs a travel service so one of her employees was helping us (my cousin and I) plan everything. She originally asked for a “wish list” for what we wanted to do, and of course we included interacting with different animals, elephants and tigers included. This was pre-research on my end as well, and she had relayed back what their partner agency said, which was exactly this and they wouldn’t help us with the tigers. She included “I can’t in good conscience help you plan an excursion like this, but I can block out half a day for you to figure it out yourselves and go visit them.” Of course we completely disregard that as an option after hearing about this, and also my respect for the lady went up to 100% after that.
Not gonna lie, I still very much would love to interact with such a majestic big kitty, but never at the expense of the big kitty itself, and the ripple effect it creates.
CyberBill on May 3rd, 2024 at 04:39 UTC »
About ~15 years ago my wife (girlfriend at the time) and I took a cruise down to Cabo, and in the port area was a little shop set up where you could get pictures with a baby lion and a tiger!! Obviously we were super jazzed (and young and naive) and so we did it. It was about $20 - they were incredibly lethargic, and basically just laid in our laps while we gave them some pets and got some pictures.... There were also baby donkeys that they would lay on your lap, iguanas, parrots, and a variety of other animals.
Fast forward to when we got back from the cruise and looked it up - and it was incredibly sad, and we felt like complete fucking assholes for doing it.
Not only do they drug the baby animals to make them docile, but they also basically force them to breed, then take the babies far too young, and once they are old enough that they could hurt someone, they are slaughtered. :( They are kept in tiny cages and abused their whole lives. Real shitty.
Needless to say, I am very happy that Carnival is letting their passengers know to stay away from these places.