Your happiness or mine: influence of affective states and level of contact on public perceptions of elephant tourism

Many captive Asian elephants in Thailand work in the tourism industry at ‘elephant camps’, where they often experience injuries, poor nutrition, unnatural social environments and aversive handling. Despite increasing concern for animal welfare, the general public often have difficulty recognizing housing and care that reflect positive animal welfare for captive animals. The aim of this study was to investigate participants’ willingness to support an elephant attraction and their perceived emotional value from the experience, based on the affective state of the captive elephant and their level of contact with it. Participants (n=590) from the United States were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes (using a 2x2 experimental design) that described an elephant attraction, varying the affective state of the elephant (feels excellent, feels terrible) and the level of contact they could have with the elephant (low, high). A mixed methods approach was used, where participants provided answers to Likert-type questions, followed by an open-ended response. Participants showed greater willingness to support the elephant attraction (b=1.94, p=&lt;0.0001) and greater perceived emotional value from the experience (b=2.00, p=&lt;0.0001) when the elephant felt excellent, as opposed to when the elephant felt terrible. There were no significant differences between low and high contact for the measures included in this study. Qualitative responses varied greatly, with participants making many assumptions about the elephant and the attraction, revealing potential misconceptions that participants have about the welfare of captive elephants. The affective state of the elephant was an important determinant in participants’ willingness to support an elephant attraction and their perceived emotional value from the experience. Future research should investigate the public perception of individual activities, such as elephant riding and bathing, the demographics of potential tourists and Mahout perceptions. <br>