Hundreds of elephants used in Asia's tourism industry are kept in "severely cruel" conditions, animal welfare group World Animal Protection said on Thursday.
Animal tourism in Asia has drawn increased scrutiny over the past year, partly because of a scandal involving a tiger attraction at Wat Pa Luang Ta Maha Bua in Kanchanaburi province, where wildlife authorities discovered dozens of dead tiger cubs.
According to a report by the non-profit group, around 80% of about 3,000 elephants at tourist venues in Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand endure poor living conditions and diets and are overworked.
Thailand has an estimated 4,000 domesticated elephants, many working in the tourism trade, and about 2,500 wild elephants.
"We want to change the demand from elephant riding and elephant shows towards activities that are elephant-friendly, such as observing elephants," said Jan Schmidt-Burbach, of World Animal Protection.
"If you can ride or take a selfie with the animal, chances are that is cruel to the animal," he told Reuters.
Thailand, which registered record foreign tourist arrivals last year, has seen a rise of 30% in new elephant tourism venues since 2010.
Ittipan Khaolamai, manager of the Royal Elephant Kraal in Ayutthaya province which is home to around 90 elephants, defended the use of elephants as tourist attractions, saying the keepers treated the animals well.
"Most mahouts look after the animals well because their livelihood also depends on the welfare of the elephant," Mr Ittipan added.