Social media attacks shark huggers

BANGKO  Thai tourists behaving badly on Phi Phi Island were caught on camera and exposed on social media according to a Coconut Bangkok report released Wednesday.
The report claims photos showed “super-excited Thai tourists ignorant enough to pet a baby shark pulled from the waters of Koh Phi Phi.”
It enraged the online community (mainly Thai social media addicts) after a marine activist helped spread the word.
Following viral photos of tourists touching star fish – not to mention former beauty queens hugging baby sharks – marine activist Thon Thamrongnawasawat condemned the tour group and the tour operator online yesterday.
inside no 7The social media outage encouraged officials to intervene.
“So now they catch baby sharks for tourists?” he wrote. “They let them suffocate on the land, while humans petted them and took selfies. I don’t even know what to say.”
The post was shared nearly 2,000 times. The source of the photos was not disclosed, but the caption said: “Nothing is more exciting than getting to pet a live shark during Koh Phi Phi trip. The boat operator caught it for us.”
Thon encouraged netizens to share the photos as a bad example of what Thai tourists should do when visiting an island.
Last week, Similan and Surin national parks were closed to tourists for five months to allow the underwater ecology, including coral reefs, to recover,
The park is closed annually, but there have been also calls to extend the closure period to save the island’s ecology from tourists who damage the coral.
In contrast, areas of Phi Phi that should be protected are overun with tourists who are damaging what was once one of Thailand’s marine treasures. Now it is a tourist trap.
The Coconut Bangkok report was given wider cover on the popular ThaiVisa.Com site where expatriates added their own comments mainly condemning Thais for destroying their natural heritage.
Criticism has also been meted-out on TV shows led by celebrities who show a disregard for the environment or cultural sensitivities.

sourced:traveldailynews.asia