Elephants forced to walk across tightropes at Thai tourist attraction

An elephant is forced to walk across a metal tightrope at a tourist attraction in Thailand. The animals are being trained to teeter across reinforced ropes in front of hordes of tourists at the Safari World on the outskirts of Bangkok.



Trainers make the elephants climb on to a raised platform before they make their way gingerly across using their tails to balance.

Safari World, who also train orangutans to kickbox, is one of many animal parks in Thailand teaching elephants to perform for tourists. Since the ban on logging in the country, most elephants employed in the industry have been put out of work.



This means many owners are forced to take their elephants around the big cities begging or training them to do tricks. Without the income from tourism to feed and support them, most of Thailand's elephants would struggle to survive.