Oh Kim, when are you not stepping in it on Instagram?
Buckle up, kids, because this is a Kardashian post. Enter at your own risk!
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Recently, Kim posted a series of photos of she and Kanye at an elephant sanctuary in Bali. And, to put it bluntly: people are mad.
Kim visited Bali in April
This was her second trip.
Her first was when she, Khloé, and Kourtney visited for a trip while filming Keeping Up With the Kardashians .
You know, that one trip where Khloé got her knee sucked! Yes, I’m serious.
She went on her second trip for a few reasons
Other than enjoyment, it looks like Kim had a few motives.
1 – To advertise the upcoming season of KUWTK .
And 2 – To shoot a few looks for her brand deal with Carolina Lemke Eyewear.
While there, she posted a story with an elephant
Turns out, this was our initial preview of her eventual Instagram post.
In that Instagram story, all she did was feed the elephants. There’s no indication that she’s not at a regular animal sanctuary.
So, that brings us to her actual post
Kim simply captioned it: “Missing Bali!
And it’s important to know that first of all, elephants are not rideable animals
Not naturally, anyway.
To train an elephant to allow a rider is to break an elephant.
According to Nora Livingstone, who spoke to Yahoo! on behalf of Animal Experience International, elephants are tortured in order to be trained.
The cruelty doesn’t stop there
“A baby is taken away from its mother and tortured until it’s broken and timid. Elephants that are used in tourism are often chained up by themselves,” she told Yahoo!
These pictures being a promotional opportunity is just the icing on the cake.
If you check Kim’s tagged accounts, she has Carolina Lemke tagged.
Kim has been pretty vocal about promoting Carolina’s eyewear on her Instagram. She’s even modeled for them.
So yeah, she went to a place that tortures elephants to promote sunglasses.
People were quick to point out that the rider indicates she wasn’t at a sanctuary
Naturally, if an elephant is trained to ride, it’s not in a place that cares about its wellbeing.
There’s thousands of comments all telling Kim this exact same thing, with many agreeing with each other (a rare thing for the internet).
Others called for Kim to delete the post.
At the very least, it would help for Kim to post about the importance of proper research before visiting a “sanctuary.”
Except…that’s not going to happen! At least, not unless Kim has a sudden change of heart.
Here’s why Kim doesn’t care.
She already knew where she was, and what she was doing. She’d done it before.
And she’d faced criticism for it before.
She “defended” herself, went back to Bali, and did the exact same thing again .
Kim was not at a sanctuary at all.
Based on the paparazzi pictures of the event, I started looking up elephant “sanctuaries.”
I found Responsible Travel’s Elephant Sanctuaries page, which outlines real sanctuaries to visit — and those that aren’t sanctuaries at all.
Kim was at Bali’s Mason Elephant Park and Lodge
Matching the distinctive green fencing and umbrellas, as well as the Bali location, I found Mason Elephant Park and Lodge.
From Responsible Travel’s site:
“Billed as Bali’s most unique hotel, it offers elephants up as chauffeurs transporting guests from one part of the resort to another.”
It doesn’t stop there.
Like circus animals, elephants are also trained to entertain the resort’s guests. From Responsible Travel:
“Elephants play basketball and are required to perform tricks for guests.”
That doesn’t sound much like a sanctuary, does it?
Real elephant sanctuaries are for the elephants, not their human guests.
Elephant sanctuaries primarily exist to help house or rehabilitate elephants that cannot otherwise exist in the wild.
That includes elephants that have been rescued from circuses or zoos, or were injured in the wild and can’t survive.
Responsible Travel has a whole list available for you to browse
As previously mentioned, it features sanctuaries and “sanctuaries.”
Some locations are true rehabilitation centers for elephants who need help, and allow vistors to help pay for the costs of housing them. This does not include riding!
Some locations exploit the elephants for profit. Beware, y’all. Don’t be a Kim. Do your research!
