Cambodia to ban elephant rides at Angkor Wat from 2020

Cambodia is banning elephant rides at Angkor Wat, the country’s most popular tourist attraction. For touring the temple complex, animals were used daily to transport visitors around the area, which welcomes more than 2.6 million tourists a year. In 2016, a female elephant named Sambo collapsed and died after ferrying tourists around Angkor during intense heat. Shortly thereafter, a petition collected over 185,000 signatures to ban elephant riding at Angkor. Apparently, the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor (APSARA) and the Region of Siem Reap took the public pressure and is now gradually transferring the remaining elephants out of Angkor by early 2020 in conjunction with the Elephant Management Association. In April 2019, Madrid banned wild-animal circuses, and just a few days ago, Paris also banned wild animals in circuses, effective in 2020. England is also banning the use of wild animals in circuses, starting in 2020.