Over the weekend, Beyoncé posted a photo to her Instagram account of herself, Jay-Z and their daughter Blue Ivy petting a tiger cub during their recent trip to Thailand, and though the picture is absolutely adorable for a number of reasons — as you can see up above — not everyone is happy about it. According to Vulture, animal rights organization World Animal Protection criticized Bey for her photo-op, which took place at Phuket's FantaSea theme park, saying that the animals in these parks are subjected to abuse and suffering.
"When you look behind the scenes, vacation snaps like these support an industry that relies on animal cruelty," World Animal Protection wrote in its criticism. "Many tourists unwittingly contribute to the suffering of wild animals like these. They're simply not aware that their 'once in a lifetime' photo means a lifetime of misery for that animal."
During this same trip, Mrs. Carter was also photographed riding a baby elephant, which summoned the wrath of One Green Planet, who said that "there is an incredible amount of suffering involved in Thai elephant tourism," and that the elephant in the photo "was likely taken from his mother and forced to endure a six-month 'breaking' period, during which time he was locked in a small enclosure and continuously beaten by his mahouts (trainers)."
This is not the first time Queen Bey has been criticized by animal rights groups. In 2013, French designer Isabel Marant created a pair of sneakers for the singer that were made out of the skins of stingrays, crocodiles, anacondas, ostrichs and calfs, which greatly upset PETA. She is not alone, though: You can check out a list of musicians who have angered PETA here.
You can check out Beyoncé's "7/11" music video here — she is much better at dancing than treating animals well, apparently:
Do you think Beyoncé was wrong to visit FantaSea? Let us know down in the comments section.
© 2024 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
