PETITION TARGETS: Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry and the Indonesian Zoos and Aquariums Association (PKBSI)
Behind the holiday photos and animal attractions in Bali, wild animals are paying the price.
Investigations by Lady Freethinker, Jakarta Animal Aid Network, and Bali Animal Welfare Association have documented disturbing treatment of captive wildlife across Bali – including animals kept in cramped, barren spaces, repeatedly handled by tourists, and showing signs of distress.
The harmful impact on individual animals was painfully clear. Captive dolphins were observed repeatedly circling, bobbing their heads, and slapping their tails – repetitive behaviors associated with the immense stress, frustration, and lack of stimulation of life in captivity. Elephants were used for tourist bathing, painting, and photos, while some remained chained and controlled with bull hooks. Nocturnal animals like owls and bats were handled in broad daylight for pictures. Other wild animals were touched, posed, and used as props for visitors.
Yet tourists are often led to believe these experiences support conservation or education.
But how can a facility claim to teach people to respect wildlife while encouraging visitors to touch, hold, bathe with, pose beside, or watch wild animals perform for entertainment? These experiences send the wrong message: that wild animals are ours to handle, control, and use for amusement.
Genuine wildlife education should teach people to respect animals for who they are, and genuine conservation should protect them, not turn them into props for photographs or entertainment.
Indonesia has already shown that change is possible by prohibiting elephant riding in December 2025.
Now that progress must continue.
Sign our petition urging Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry and the Indonesian Zoos and Aquariums Association to take action nationwide to:
• Prohibit the use of captive wild animals for hands-on tourist entertainment, including photo props, direct-contact encounters, performances, and other activities that require wild animals to be handled, controlled, or made to perform for visitors.
• Ensure all facilities keeping captive wildlife meet legal and animal welfare requirements – including those not registered with PKBSI – and take enforcement action against facilities that fail to comply.
• Require PKBSI members, and other facilities claiming to support conservation or education, to live up to those claims by ending exploitative entertainment practices and putting animal welfare, species protection, rescue, rehabilitation, and genuine education first.
Bali can offer unforgettable wildlife experiences without exploiting animals, and true conservation should teach us to protect wild animals, not that they are ours to use.
