A holiday resort in Thailand has come under fire after it posted a picture online of drunken guests riding a baby elephant around its swimming pool . The picture , which drew widespread criticism immediately after it was posted , was accompanied by a caption that stated it was ‘ amazing Sunday brunch ’ . Nikki Beach Resort in Phuket was flooded with complaints over the photo , reports The Daily Telegraph . A holiday resort in Thailand has come under fire after it posted a picture online of drunken guests riding an elephant around its swimming pool . Nikki Beach Resort in Phuket published the picture along with a caption that stated it was ‘ amazing Sunday brunch ’ People were enraged such a young elephant had been brought onto the property so that guests could ride it for fun , and that guests were more than willing to take part . The resort quickly deleted the photo , and released a statement to address the controversy . 'We would like to make it clear that we do not , have not and will never own an elephant , ' the statement read . 'The elephant in the photo is from a reputable elephant caretaker who has no affiliation with Nikki Beach . The resort is located about 30 minutes away from the tourist hot-spot of Patong . 'Elephants are a highly respected and regarded symbol of Thailand . As a global company , Nikki Beach respects every country ’ s culture and traditions and as such , we fall into the normal behaviors in usage of elephants to represent their culture . 'We never intended to be disrespectful . ' The statement did little to calm the stampeding herd of online protesters , and the anger spilled onto the resort 's TripAdvisor page . However , TripAdvisor deleted negative reviews based on the elephant incident . 'We would like to make it clear that we do not , have not and will never own an elephant , ' a statement from the resort read .
Nikki Beach Resort in Thailand posted picture of baby elephant near pool . Party-goers dancing around the elephant , and one person seen riding it . Picture quickly deleted from Facebook page after widespread criticism . Comments flooded resort 's social media accounts after the 'offensive ' act .