PHUKET, Thailand – Beyoncé had quite the play-date set for her daughter Blue Ivy — a baby tiger, during their trip to Thailand.
The Carter-Knowles clan’s glamorous visit to Thailand during the holidays is well documented on Beyoncé’s Instagram page, but it’s a fan photo of the family posing with a baby tiger that’s not sitting well with an animal rights organization and critics.
The photo shows Beyoncé petting the baby tiger while it’s being bottle fed at the Phuket FantaSea theme park, with hubby Jay Z and Blue Ivy looking on.
“Tourists like Beyoncé are often unaware of the cruelty tigers suffer for these tourist attractions,” World Animal Protection said in a statement, “The tigers used for these photos are often forcibly removed from their mothers to be fed artificially by tourists. They are also crammed into tiny cages or chained to the floor for long periods.”
Beyoncé and Jay Z aren’t the first to be blasted for posing with a tiger.
A recent New York State bill bans people from posing for photos while hugging, patting or touching tigers.
The bill was introduced after men posing with wild cats became a trend on dating apps like Tinder and OKCupid, which even produced a Tumblr that collected photos of men posing with Tigers.
Beyoncé’s elephant ride during the trip also came under criticism, with the organization One Green Planet reminding the singer of the “incredible amount of suffering involved in Thai elephant tourism.”
The PETA Foundation said it would like to see all tourists avoid visiting parks where animals are held in captivity.
“We’re sure that the Carters, like many unsuspecting tourists, would be horrified to learn that baby elephants and tigers propped up for photo ops are typically torn away from their mothers, violently beaten by trainers and deprived of everything natural and important to them,” PETA Foundation deputy general counsel Delcianna Winders said in a statement to CNN.
“And the issues facing exotic animals don’t stop in Thailand, of course. Roadside zoos and captive-wildlife breeders in the U.S. subject animals to the same abuses. PETA encourages all caring people to enjoy nature with their families in ways that leave captive animals out of the picture.”
CNN has reached out to Beyoncé for a statement.
By Carolyn Sung for CNN
