The American actress who will make a splash as Ariel in next month’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid is in hot water with animal welfare advocates for posing with wildlife at a controversial Bangkok zoo.
Halle Bailey and Disney have been accused of promoting animal exploitation and cruelty in two recent incidents involving Safari World, a zoo long accused of mistreating wildlife that two decades ago was implicated in trafficking more than 100 great apes.
Photos from Bailey’s recent trip to Thailand showed the actress posing for photos in which she hugged an orangutan and bottle-fed a tiger cub. Separately, footage from Safari World was broadcast on an American television network owned by Disney showing a trained orangutan hugging a woman before kissing her and cupping her breasts.
“I am so saddened to see that you would engage in such activities,” Anna Maria Feder wrote in reply to Bailey’s photos posted last week. “You have a huge audience of children and young adults that you influence and that looking up to you… Please read up on tiger temples and the torture that these animals have to go through just for you to take a picture.”
Animal advocacy group Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand said yesterday it feared that Bailey’s post and the zoo’s appearance on Disney-owned talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! “could influence tourists into supporting controversial wildlife attractions that campaigners say cause immense suffering to animals.”
“Many of us know Disney’s timeless creations like Bambi, Dumbo, and Ariel, who inspire a love for animals and wildlife that spans generations,” the group said in a statement. “Sadly, that is what makes it all the more disappointing that Disney has been involved with promoting cruel orangutan performances in Thailand this week.”
World Animal Protection Thailand described Bailey’s post as “a real bummer.”
“Many wild animals in Thailand are bred into captivity and subjected to harsh training methods that cause them physical and mental harm from a very young age,” it said. “They are then forced to ‘work’ in poor living conditions for most of their lives. By participating in or promoting these activities, tourists inadvertently contribute to this vicious cycle of animal cruelty.”
Some of Bailey’s fans defended the 23-year-old actress, saying she was likely unaware of what she was doing.
“I didn’t know about the treatment of these animals either so I probably would have done the same,” J. Silva Grant wrote. “Give people a chance to learn from innocent mistakes. Nobody’s perfect.”
Coconuts has reached out to Bailey for comment.
Safari World is a 480-acre animal tourism attraction located in northeastern Bangkok that opened in 1988. Trained animals perform stunts to entertain tourists and visitors, which are allowed to pose for photos with them. In 2006, dozens of trafficked orangutans were rescued and returned to their home of Indonesia. Dozens of others vanished or died during the long legal battle over their fate.
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