A young boy from Essex, England bravely intervened to prevent a hotel in Thailand from cruelly abusing and using baby elephants for the amusement of their guests.
While on holiday with his family in Phuket, six-year-old Oakley Kingston witnessed a member of the Katathani hotel’s staff brutally beat a baby elephant for not performing as requested at a wedding. Upon seeing the tormented elephant dressed as a bride for the entertainment of the hotel’s British guests, Oakley immediately asserted, “That’s not right.”
“They wanted the elephant to pose with the bride and groom, but the baby elephant just wasn’t doing it,” Oakley’s mom Rebecca told The Dunmow Broadcast. “A guy was beating it with a stick to get it into the right position. People were putting their children on the elephant for a photo. The elephant was distressed. You can tell, they bark when they are upset.”
“Oakley started protesting and saying you shouldn’t be doing that,” Rebecca added. “We stood there with our thumbs down.”
Once Oakley and his family arrived back home, Rebecca told their tour operator, Kuoni Travel, about the abuse, and they took action. Kuoni Travel threatened to remove the hotel from their tours unless management stopped using baby elephants to entertain guests.
“We take animal welfare seriously with clear guidelines,” Rachel O’Reilly, head of communications at Kuoni Travel, said. “We work closely with our management company in Thailand to ensure animal welfare is respected. We do our very best to ensure attractions like this are not part of the hotel experience. If guests or travel agents see a practice that doesn’t look right, we encourage people to report it to us so we can investigate and take action.”
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That little guy is going to grow up to do great things in this world! He deserves a lot of praise! God bless you Oakley!!
the world is very PROUD of you. Thank you for your compassion and reverence for life!!!!!!
Thank you for helping the animals.
Kuoni travel way to go !!!! it is so good to hear that you are standing up for the elephants of Thailand !!! I wish more places would take the stand that you did !!!! Kudos to Kuoni !
Kuoni travel way to go !!!! it is so good to hear that you are standing up for the elephants of Thailand !!! I wish more places would take the stand that you did !!!! Kudos to Kuoni !
Thank God for this child’s action on forcing a baby elephant to entertain at this hotel in Thailand. This is not the first time I heard of this. I hope something can be done to stop animal cruelty at this hotel and other regions in this country. This is truly bad.
RIGHT ON, OAKLEY KINGSTON!!!!!!! THIS ABUSE OF ELEPHANTS HAS GOT TO STOP, AND IT HAS GOT TO STOP NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
A young boy from Essex, England bravely intervened to prevent a hotel in Thailand from cruelly abusing and using baby elephants for the amusement of their guests.
Six-year-old Oakley Kingston witnessed a member of the Katathani hotel’s staff brutally beat a baby elephant for not performing as requested at a wedding. Upon seeing the tormented elephant dressed as a bride for the entertainment of the hotel’s British guests, Oakley immediately asserted, “That’s not right.”
Great work Oakley Kingston.
If only their were many more compassionate and caring young boys and adults just like you.
The boy definitely needs to be commended for his wonderful deed. We all need to take a lesson from this six year old boy and stand up against animal abuse. The only way to stop it is stand up and say enough, no more. Animals need to be protected from greedy people and “trophy hunters”
All credit to Oakley Kingston – well done. I hope there are more tourists out there who are prepared to step forward and put a stop to this dreadful abuse.
You have my best wishes and support wish I could give you cash but I too am poor but love the babies as you do,
Well done to the young boy who stood up for the elephant. He led by example and his family also deserve praise for bringing this to the tour operators attention.
I hope this kind of abuse that holiday makers see will be more publicly known so that all animals can be free. They are not for public entertainment, they are to be admired and loved in their 9wn habitat without any human intervention.
All travel agencies should stop using any hotel that uses animals of any age just to amuse ignorant tourists.
Please stop, animals feels pain to and we don`t have the right to to hurt them.
Well done to that little boy i bet his parents are really proud of him, we as tourists need to state we will not stand for any animal cruelty well done to kuoni its just a shame that TUI don’t follow suit and stop selling tickets to seaworld the cruelty of the orca’s is disgraceful.
Out of the mouths of our precious babies. What a wonderful and caring little man Oakley Kingston is.
What a wonderful story about the child who protested the treatment of the baby elephant!. These stories cheer us up and give us hope!
Good on you, Oakley Kingston! I really hope the tour company really does follow up and get this behaviour banned (abusing Elephants) and it reaches every person / company in Asian countries so they realise that what they’re doing may very well cause their business to fail! Let’s think positively and hope this may have a real impact.
Good on you, Oakley Kingston! I really hope the tour company really does follow up and get this behaviour banned (abusing Elephants) and it reaches every person / company in Asian countries so they realise that what they’re doing may very well cause their business to fail! Let’s think positively and hope this may have a real impact.
Oakley you are a wonderful child you have restored my faith in human nature and your parents must be so proud of you, I hope and pray that everyone sees animal abuse as this child does. Many people on this planet could learn from him
True words!
Thanks to the family and to Kuoni Travel. I only hope that Kuoni will follow through on their promise.
Well done Oakley! Love from everyone in Spain.
What a wonderful boy and righteous character. It is so encouraging to see that a new generation grows up with their eyes and heart open to identify what is going wrong with our interaction with our fellow creatures. You listened to your heart, Oakley, and in doing so this world has become a bit better. I am sure you will always be a friend to the animals you`ll come across in the course of your lifetime. Thanks also to your parents and family who helped make you the person you are. We need more grown-ups like them! A big thank-you to Kuoni Travel also. Your company should be recommended because of that!
Thailand should be boycotted until animal abuse is ended . Poor baby elephant Beaten whenever he acts like a baby. That bride and room should have stopped it too!!! Good for the boy!
Protect all animals
People need to boycott travel to Thailand until this rampant abuse of animals for entertainment and profit ends. These animals deserve better. Shame of this person for abuse this poor baby elephant who was stressed and scared. Heart breaks for these beautiful animals. Tourists need to stop paying for pictures on these animals and frequenting hotels that use animals in this manner. Thank you to Oakley and his parents for standing up to these people and doing what is right for this baby elephant. And thank you to this travel agency who puts animals welfare first.
YAH!! “And a child shall lead them.” These parents are doing something right!–thank you for raising a compassionate child.
FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES! Oakley’s family has to be so proud of the person they have raised!!
this little lad’s parents must be soooooo proud of him, and huge thanks to them for reporting the abuse to the travel company. Manel is right – this abuse was performed in a so called Buddhist country. I hope Oakley has the best Christmas ever!
Thank you beautiful child!! If only more people were like him!!!
I am so disgusted to hear this so called Buddhist land called Thailand, the way it’s people abuse the vulnerable yet such majestic, animals as if they are humans slaves.
SHAME ON YOU THAILAND DUMB PEOPLE WHO STILL GO ON ABUSING POOR INNOCENT ANIMALS FOR THE SAKE OF GREED OF MONEY & FAME.
Respect the Buddhist philosophy where it says the harming, killing, Animals is a CRIME. So respect the animals lives as the way you would like to be treated.
God Bless this very smart and sensitive child! He should get some kind of award for making this happen and saving these animals from further mishandling and torture! I hope these animals get to go somewhere else soon! This boy was really paying attention to what is right and wrong! HIs parents must be great people too to have such a good and smart boy!
Fim ao abuso animal
That Little of six years Old A HERO to Me. Two Thumb Up and A Hooray to.
Way to go kid! Thank you for caring for helpless animals.
SUCH A HUGE HEART OAKLEY. THANK YOU AND THE TRAVEL AGENCY
Oakley you are a Hero!
Good on Oakley, obviousy a young lad who has picked up a very important and excellent life quality. Animal cruelty the world over is getting more barbaric as the years pass, we need more Oakley’s to help stem the tide of animal cruelty.
This is what we need!
Young people speaking up for animals! Xxx
Well done Oakley!
You are a Hero!
A good news story – for once!
Oakley Kingston YOU ARE A HERO 🌟🌠💫💌 OUR FAMILY IS HONORED TO KNOW OF YOUR BRAVE ACTIONS.
NAMASTE🐦
THE GALARNEAU & ANDERSON FAMILY