Apprentice star Karren Brady accused of ‘endorsing animal cruelty’

Apprentice star Karren Brady accused of ‘endorsing animal cruelty’ after sharing an elephant riding snap… but she insists she was at a sanctuary where the creatures are ‘well treated’

  • Karen has been slammed for riding an elephant while on holiday in Thailand
  • The TV personality shared a photo of herself riding the creature on Twitter
  • She received criticism from her followers for ‘endorsing animal cruelty’
  • Karen has said: ‘It was an elephant sanctuary that rescues the poor elephants who have been mistreated, they walk in the jungle bath every day and are incredible well treated and are well looked after by their mahouts’

Karren Brady has been accused of ‘endorsing animal cruelty’ after sharing a picture of herself riding an elephant while on a family holiday in Thailand.

The Apprentice star, 50, was slammed on Twitter by charities and critics who claimed  they were ‘disappointed’ by the businesswoman’s actions.

However Karren swiftly hit back and claimed she was at a sanctuary for previously mistreated elephants where the creatures are now ‘well treated’.

Scandal: Karren Brady has been accused of ‘endorsing animal cruelty’ after sharing a picture of herself riding an elephant while on a family holiday in Thailand

After sharing a selection of snaps from her Thailand trip, including one of her sat on an elephant Karren received a torrent of critical comments.

Cameron Stocks, a board member for Save The Asian Elephants, replied to the image saying: ‘Incredibly disappointed to see such a high profile endorsing the cruel sport of riding elephants.

‘Perhaps you would take a look at the work of Save The Asian Elephants and reflect upon whether this was the right thing to do.’

Not impressed: The Apprentice star, 50, was slammed on Twitter by charities and critics who claimed they were 'disappointed' by the businesswoman's actions

Not impressed: The Apprentice star, 50, was slammed on Twitter by charities and critics who claimed they were ‘disappointed’ by the businesswoman’s actions

Critics: After sharing a selection of snaps from her Thailand trip, including one of her sat on an elephant Karren received a torrent of critical comments

Critics: After sharing a selection of snaps from her Thailand trip, including one of her sat on an elephant Karren received a torrent of critical comments

 Duncan McNair, CEO of Save The Asian Elephants added: ‘Sadly Karren Brady is not the first celebrity to be ill informed about Asian elephants. 

Elephant riding is often referred to as the cruellest of all the world’s tourism practices for good reason. babies are snatched from the wild (the mother who tries to protect them is killed) and isolated, beaten, stabbed and ripped with hooks to mentally and physically ‘break the spirits’ for easy use in tourism – for rides, selfies and ruthlessly ‘trained’ by torture to perform tricks like football and painting.

‘Karren surprisingly claims that elephants at the sanctuary she visited were ‘incredibly well treated’. 

‘She has not replied to STAE’s request to tell us what venue she visited so we can check. But anyway her claim misunderstands that all elephants admitting tourists on their backs have been brutally ‘broken’ and remained grievously abused. These horrors are committed covertly. Karren won’t have seen them – STAE has.

Hitting out: After sharing a selection of snaps from her Thailand trip, including one of her sat on an elephant Karren received a torrent of critical comments

Hitting out: After sharing a selection of snaps from her Thailand trip, including one of her sat on an elephant Karren received a torrent of critical comments

‘It’s disappointing Karren has hidden STAE’s social media messages to her. The world should know the facts and join the millions of Britons backing STAE’s campaign for a new law to ban the advertising and sale of brutal Asian elephant related holidays. 

‘The present British government has promised to pursue this if returned to power. The EU has just agreed to STAEs request to ask every EU nation to introduce such law.’  

Many others appeared to share the same view, with one writing: ‘Riding the abused elephants is not a good look.’

While another penned: ‘OMG – I can’t believe @karren_brady did that, how disappointing. Why do celebrities think it’s ok to support elephants to be used this way?’

A third said: ‘Elephant riding… oh dear oh dear!’

One man said: ‘Elephants captured from the wild and kept for entertainment. Many of these elephants are taken from their mothers as babies, forced to endure harsh training and suffer poor living conditions throughout their life. Very disappointed @karren_brady.’

Karren hit back and said: ‘No this was the opposite, it was an elephant sanctuary that rescues the poor elephants who have been mistreated, they walk in the jungle bath every day and are incredible well treated and are well looked after by their mahouts.’

Cameron chimed in and said: ‘Perhaps you be willing to share the details of the sanctuary with @stae_elephants to check against our database? 

Many others appeared to share the same view, with one writing: 'Riding the abused elephants is not a good look'

Many others appeared to share the same view, with one writing: ‘Riding the abused elephants is not a good look’

‘The sad reality is elephant rides are not good for the elephant and many ‘sanctuaries’ turn out to be exactly the opposite once tourists leave.’

Another critic agreed and said: ‘The cruel process of intensively conditioning the elephants to allow people to ride them goes unseen.

‘In order to ensure they are safe around humans, the elephants must be broken in – a brutal and distressing process known as ‘crushing the spirit’. 

Karren hit back and said: 'No this was the opposite, it was an elephant sanctuary that rescues the poor elephants who have been mistreated, they walk in the jungle bath every day and are incredible well treated and are well looked after by their mahouts'

Karren hit back and said: ‘No this was the opposite, it was an elephant sanctuary that rescues the poor elephants who have been mistreated, they walk in the jungle bath every day and are incredible well treated and are well looked after by their mahouts’

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