Cambodia is set to place a ban on elephant rides at Ankor Wat, which is the country’s biggest tourist attraction with over 2.5 million visitors every year. The country will ban the rides in 2020.

The Angkor Elephant Group Committee said that the 14 elephants who work at the Angkor Wat will no longer work by 2020, they will be moved to breeding and a conservation center by 2020.

The ban on elephant rides comes 3 years after an elephant died while carrying 2 tourists, it was on its way to the temple.

2 year after that incident, one animal passed away from exhaustion.

The events caused outrage in many animal activists group.

Just after 2 days of the death of the second elephant, a petition showed up, its sole purpose was to ban elephant rides. The petition got more than 14,000 signatures.

Oan Kiry, the director of the Angkor Elephant Group Committee, said, “In early 2020, our association plans to end the use of elephants to transport tourists. They can still watch the elephants and take photos of them in our conservation and breeding center. We want the elephants to live in as natural a manner as possible.”

Neth Pheaktra, the spokesperson of the  Ministry of Environment, said ‘The government is working with relevant organizations to formulate strategies to protect and preserve elephants in Cambodia for future generations.  To effectively protect natural forest habitats of elephants, law enforcement needed to be strengthened to tackle illegal wildlife hunting and the use of snares.’

There are still 70 elephants in the country, and there are only 500 elephants in the wild. This includes 110 in the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary and 200 in the Cardamom Mountains.