On your website, your President, Dr. Linda Schott claims her favorite quote is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s assertion that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” On behalf of thousands of people worldwide I am writing to request Southern Oregon University put its principles in action and help us right a terrible injustice.  

Last month, National Geographic launched a “Wildlife Tourism” campaign to draw attention to the plight of captive animals, intended to be shared in social media -- #NatGeoWildlifeTourism.

The story featured a deeply disturbing photograph of an abused baby elephant named Gluay Hom with this caption:

Gluay Hom, a four-year-old elephant trained to perform tricks for tourists, is chained to a pole in a stadium at Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo near Bangkok, Thailand. His swollen right foreleg hangs limp. At his temple is a bloody wound from lying on the floor.

The Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Thailand has long been the subject of news reports and social media exposes regarding the appalling conditions in which its captive animals endure lives of starvation, neglect and misery while forced to perform tricks for tourists. The zoo’s owner, Uthen Youngprapakorn, adamantly refuses to take any steps to remedy the situation and has been quoted as saying that the fact that his animals hadn’t died showed that the facility was caring for them properly. News reports also indicate that another zoo also owned by Youngprapakorn had been shut down by Thai authorities due to the terrible condition of its captive animals.  

Why is this of relevance to you? Because on his Facebook page, Uthen Youngprapakorn, this serial exploiter and abuser of animals claims to hold a BA from Southern Oregon University.  https://www.facebook.com/uthen.youngprapakorn  

The National Geographic articles and the heartbreaking photographs accompanying them have ignited a firestorm of outrage worldwide. Petitions circulating on change.org and other sites to release Gluay Hom to a sanctuary and shut down the Samut Prakan Zoo are garnering thousands of signatures and expressions of horror and disgust. Sadly, Uthen Youngprarpakorn remains immune to these requests and Thai authorities are not taking any action to enforce the country’s Cruelty Prevention and Welfare Animal Act. Baby Gluay Hom continues to suffer, chained to concrete under the stadium where emaciated, scarred elephants and tigers are compelled to perform to profit Uthen Youngprarpakorn.

We ask that Southern Oregon University issue a letter condemning the actions of your former student, Uthen Youngprapakorn in the strongest terms, urge him to release the suffering baby elephant to a sanctuary and to shut down the so called “zoo” where animals exist in daily pain and misery.  This open letter will be posted on the change.org petition and the world will wait and hope that Southern Oregon University will do the right thing.

Respectfully,

The 67,000+signees of this petition