The Wire

Following a new tourist attraction in Bangkok involving orangutans being dressed up and forced to kickbox, a new study has taken place to explore the harmful effects of non-consumptive wildlife tourism. 

Through being placed in environments vastly different from their natural habitats, the perception on how these animals live and should be treated is greatly affected, further straining the human-animal relationship. 

Experts involved are calling for a shift from this ‘anthropocentric’ viewpoint. Those in the wildlife tourism industry must find new ways to make animals less objectified, being able to live fulfilling life, free of the ‘human gaze’.