AN ANIMAL rights organisation criticised Singapore Airlines on Thursday for an advertisement using an elephant to sell flights.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said the offending advertisement, calling on travellers to 'visit colourful India', featured a man holding a bullhook forcing an elephant to bow.

'There's nothing colourful about tearing elephants away from their families and habitats and forcing them to perform for tourists under the threat of beatings,' Ingrid E. Newkirk, PETA's president, said in a statement.

Singapore Airlines said the scene was depicted in a drawing and that the ad had not been used recently.

'That this group chooses to pick on a drawing...shows they clearly aren't aware of the work that our airline is supporting, to facilitate well-managed conservation projects,' said a Singapore Airlines spokeswoman. -- REUTERS