Tourism official proposes elephant ban at Angkor

20 September 2006 (People’s Daily) – First it’s the dogs! Now it’s the elephants! Oh, will this repression of our animal friends never end…

Tourism official proposes elephant ban at Angkor

A tourism official proposed to prohibit elephants from entering Cambodia’s Angkor Park, right after the government enforced a ban of dog at the heritage last week to ensure its peace and cleanness, local media said on Wednesday.

Moeung Sonn, managing director of Eurasie Travel and president of the National Association of Tourism Enterprises, was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying that the pachyderms carrying visitors to the temples might be a hazard to the daily 2,000 to 3,000 walking tourists who went to the nearby mountain to watch the sunset.

The elephants were too heavy, which underlined disasters for the tourists who used the same paths with them, he said.