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An elephant is forced underwater to perform tricks for tourists in a demeaning spectacle that animal rights campaigners want banned.

Tourists from Britain and elsewhere are being urged to stay away from Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Thailand, in a bid to stop the animals suffering.

Elephants swim in the wild and use water to cool off, wash and play around.

But in this performance at the zoo, the elephant is made to dance around the tank, bobbing her head above and below the surface.

With a trainer on her back, tugging violently on her ears, she plunges to the bottom and does a few tricks before going back up for air.

The elephants are also made to walk on hind legs, while on the other side of the glass visitors cheer their acrobatics, often performed twice a day.

The training process used to get the animals to perform is horrific, according to the Save The Asian Elephants charity.

Chief executive Duncan McNair said: “Virtually any elephant that allows a tourist to ride it or performs in any way has gone through this process.

“Visitors may think the elephants ‘look fine’ but they don’t understand what the animals have been through.”

The process begins when the animals are snatched as calves. The mother and others in the herd who try to intervene are often slaughtered, with an estimated seven or eight adults killed for every calf taken.

The calf then goes through “pajan” – training designed to break its spirits and brutalise it into submission.

The charity says calves are locked into “crushing cages” barely big enough for them to fit into, deprived food and water and kept awake for days with loud noise.

Next, they are beaten with hammers and clubs and stabbed with rods tipped with metal spikes or bullhooks.

Almost 50% of elephants die from the abuse. Of the rest, 10% die of heart failure within a year due to stress.

Those who make it beyond this are destined to suffer a lifetime of fear, according to Save The Asian Elephants.

Around 132,000 people have now signed a petition calling for the underwater shows to be stopped.

Pakarathon Tienchai, the Governor of Chonburi, Thailand, who started the petition, said: “No elephant would exhibit these types of behaviours in the wild, so in order to make them do so for the crowds, trainers use cruel techniques to make sure their charges will do what they say.”

Attaporn Sriheran, director of the zoo, near Pattaya, has denied the shows are cruel and said they were “exercise for the elephants” and taught visitors about animal behaviour.

But Dr Chris Draper, head of animal welfare and captivity for Born Free, said: “This is an exploitative spectacle.”