Co-written by Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., and science writer Shubhobroto Ghosh
The recent announcement of the decline in demand for elephant rides in Amer Fort in Jaipur in Rajasthan, India, and recent debates and controversy surrounding the plight of beluga whales at Marineland Niagara in Canada took me back to a topic that I addressed in a previous post, regarding the physical harms suffered by large captive mammals, including cetaceans and elephants. These latest developments add to the growing concern that visitors to venues that house captive animals, especially large mammals like cetaceans and elephants, are becoming increasingly aware that these animals suffer both physically and psychologically and that it is inappropriate and unethical to incarcerate them in captive facilities for human entertainment.
Ample research shows that elephants are extremely intelligent sentient animals. The recent observation of a female carrying a corpse that wasn't her own—referred to as being "an intimate moment, almost spiritual"—went global and clearly suggests the depth of their emotional lives.
Unfortunately, elephants continue to be abused in many sorts of entertainment venues, including zoos, circuses, and tourist camps. However, recent information released by government agencies in Rajasthan, India, reveals that there has been a decline of around 70 percent in tourist demand for elephant rides at Amer Fort over the past seven years. According to a news report, “The popularity of elephant safaris at the historic Amer Fort has declined sharply, with the number of tourists opting for elephant rides falling by around 70 per cent in seven years, according to official records. The figure rose to 9,560 in 2021-22, 54,514 in 2022-23, 79,090 in 2023-24 and 67,018 in 2024-25 before declining again to 48,474 in 2025-26.”
The campaign to highlight the physical and psychological suffering of captive elephants at Amer Fort goes back more than two decades, with organizations like World Animal Protection providing extensive investigative coverage of the emotional suffering of these animals in captivity. Ghosh has observed that the Amer Fort elephants—due to a lack of stimulation that is characteristic of their wild lives, including family bonding, play, walking long distances, natural environment ambience, interaction with other species, swimming, and adequate rest—exhibit severe abnormal behavioral stereotypies, including pacing and rocking back and forth, in the conditions in which they are held at Amer Fort and Hathi Gaon in Jaipur.
Forced to climb a steep, cobbled, sharp slope to the top of the fort, these elephants also endure injuries on the soles of their feet, and there have been several instances of their frustrations leading them to fight with each other and attack tourists, making this a hazardous, potentially lethal activity.
Numerous studies, conducted on both sides of the Atlantic and in Thailand and India, show that elephants in captivity suffer severely from the restrictive effects of captivity. Neurotic behavior has been observed in captive elephants. In every single facility, elephants display signs of stereotypies when their behavioral needs are not adequately addressed. This was pronounced in Delhi's last privately kept elephant, Laxmi, in Yamuna Bank. The decline in the demand for tourist rides is a welcome development for organizations like World Animal Protection, which has been spearheading the campaign to end elephant rides all over the world, and a sign of public enlightenment that wildlife entertainers are having to reckon with.
The fate of Canada's beluga whales
There is an ongoing controversy surrounding the fate of 30 or so beluga whales who were being held in Marineland Niagara in Canada. When Marineland closed and declared bankruptcy in 2024, the fate of their animals became unclear, particularly the beluga whales and four bottlenose dolphins kept there. Kiska, the site's lone killer whale, had died there in 2023, and the Marineland operator threatened to euthanize the others unless animal protection groups offered alternative homes.
Ghosh has seen these beluga whales, bottlenose dolphins, and Kiska. They were showing signs of abnormal behavior, including stereotypic repetitive behaviors. One beluga whale in Marineland was notorious for head bobbing. Scientists like Lori Marino and Ingrid Visser have demonstrated that captive cetaceans are psychologically traumatized and show signs of being neurotic. The possibility of the Marineland Niagara animals being sent to commercial captive venues in China raised genuine concerns for their welfare, and the recent deaths of some of the translocated belugas in commercial aquariums in the United States and Spain gained the attention of animal welfare and animal rights activists.
Fortunately, the development of cetacean sea sanctuaries may help to relocate some captive dolphins and beluga and killer whales, and there are elephant sanctuaries where they can live out their lives free from harm, without being subject to harsh treatment.
Research shows wildlife belongs in the wild
Living in captivity can have serious negative physical and psychological impacts on nonhumans and humans. The developments in India and Canada with regard to elephants and beluga whales indicate that these animals and others are best left free to live species-typical natural lives. Jane Goodall was of the firm conviction that animals like elephants and cetaceans should not be kept in captivity because their physical and psychological needs could not be met. Wildlife belongs in the wild.
Some people defend keeping animals in captivity, arguing that it helps conserve endangered species or offers educational benefits for visitors to zoos and aquariums. These justifications are questionable, especially for large mammals, and even if there are some examples where captive animals seem to be used to support conservation and education, they are few and far between. But as work by many scientists shows, caging large mammals and putting them on display is undeniably cruel because it causes brain damage and a host of associated behavioral anomalies.
Public perceptions of captivity are slowly changing, and there is increasing concern about the treatment and well-being of animals in zoos and aquariums. Witness the strong reaction to the award-winning documentary Blackfish and other exposés of what goes on behind the scenes.
Where animals cannot be freed, there are well-designed alternatives to being forced to live in substandard conditions. Transitions from abusive venues to well-designed sanctuaries may turn out to be the saving grace for improving the well-being of large mammals and many other animals.
What helps them can also help us. It is important to recognize that these and other successes will most likely also benefit people suffering from compassion and empathy fatigue and keep them going by reducing the costs of caring. This is a win-win for all. What could be better?