Kim Kardashian West Infuriates Internet With New ‘Mistreated’ Elephant Photo

In the fall of 2018, Kim Kardashian and her sisters took a trip to Bali, with the vacation airing on recent episodes of the family’s reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

To tie in the moment, Kardashian posted a series of photos from the trip on Instagram this week, including a number of shots taken at what she said was an elephant sanctuary.

“Missing Bali,” Kardashian wrote alongside the images, which show her and husband Kanye West interacting with the elephants.

Twitter was quick to point out that Kardashian had likely not visited a sanctuary, regardless of what she was led to believe, due to the practices visible on the elephants in the photos.

One user wrote that actual sanctuaries do not promote handlers riding elephants or binding them with ropes.

Some accused the makeup mogul of promoting animal cruelty with the images.

“Stop advertising animal cruelty Kim,” one Instagram comment read.

“NOT an elephant sanctuary. NO ethical sanctuary allow riding an elephant,” wrote a second. “The handler sitting atop the elephant is abusing it. Learn the facts before you promote to millions!! So disappointed. These poor creatures.”

“Do better research next time, don’t go to fake sanctuaries that chain up elephants and torture/beat them into submission,” a third fan added.

“Elephant riding is not a practice allowed in sanctuaries,” someone else wrote. “What a bad image and a terrible thing to show. Please learn about what these majestic creatures have to suffer for humans to take photos with them.”

BuzzFeed notes that there are no elephant sanctuaries in Bali and that Kardashian likely visited the country’s Mason Elephant Park and Lodge, which offers shows featuring the elephants and allows visitors to ride, touch and even bathe the animals.

A 2018 report by World Animal Protection named Bali as one of the worst destinations in the world in regard to cruelty to animals held in captivity.

“Tourism venues offer the opportunity for visitors to physically engage with and ride captive elephants – without background knowledge of the abusive training methods used to break the elephants’ spirits, and the inadequate conditions they are often housed in,” the report reads. “All captive wild elephants will suffer a cruel and intensive training process, often called ‘breaking-in’ so they can be safely used in tourism entertainment.”

Photo Credit: Twitter / @KimKardashian