THE SACRILEGIOUS ELEPHANTS OF ANGKOR

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Tourism official proposes elephant ban at Angkor

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A tourism official proposed to prohibit elephants from entering

Cambodia<http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/cambodia.html>'s

Angkor Park, right after the government enforced a ban of dog at the

heritage last week to ensure its peace and cleanness, local media said on

Wednesday.

 

Moeung Sonn, managing director of Eurasie Travel and president of the

National Association of Tourism Enterprises, was quoted by the Cambodia

Daily as saying that the pachyderms carrying visitors to the temples might

be a hazard to the daily 2,000 to 3,000 walking tourists who went to the

nearby mountain to watch the sunset.

 

The elephants were too heavy, which underlined disasters for the tourists

who used the same paths with them, he said.

 

Meanwhile, he said, the elephants' pungent urine used to harass the tourists

as the smell was not pleasant.

 

Government agency Apsara Authority, which manages Angkor, and the Interior

Ministry's heritage police, decided last week that dogs would no longer be

allowed inside the temples in Angkor Park and pet owners bringing in their

animals would be fined and have their pets confiscated for the excrement

left by dogs inside a Buddhist temple was no good for the culture.

 

Police stations throughout the park had been enforcing the ban since last

Saturday.

 

Angkor is now on UNESCO's World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage

in Danger.

 

Tourism is Cambodia's second largest foreign currency generator and Angkor

has the lion's share of the incomes.

 

*Source: Xinhua*

 

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