Russian model riding an elephant naked… ‘Animal Cruelty’

[아시아경제 김봉주 기자] A Russian influencer, who was a model, posted a photo of a naked elephant on social media while traveling to Bali, Indonesia, and faced fierce criticism of animal cruelty.

Last 13 days (local time) Alessha Capelnikova, 22, who has 540,000 followers, shared photos and videos on her SNS that showed her lying naked on the back of a Sumatran elephant. He also added an article titled’feel natural’ to the post.

However, after uploading the photos and videos, Capelnikova was pointed out that he was abusing elephants.

Netizens responded by saying, “Isn’t it ashamed to be naked on an elephant?”, “Elephant is a living life”, “Elephant’s expression looks so sad.”

Criticism from animal protection groups also followed. “Save the Asian Elephants,” an elephant protection group, criticized it as “another tragic minority.” ‘Minorization’ means making the perpetrator’s behavior feel trivial.

According to the group, Asian elephants, such as the Sumatran elephant, have been abused for decades in the name of tourism and human entertainment.

Sumatran elephants were classified as “severe endangered species” in 2012 in “endangered species” in 2012 due to deforestation and deterioration of natural habitats.

According to National Geographic in 2017, the number of these elephants is estimated to be between 700 and 1000. These elephants originally live only on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, but some have been moved to Bali for tourism purposes.

Reporter Kim Bong-ju [email protected]