Understanding Elephant Tourism in Thailand
It is without a doubt that elephants are one of the most magnificent creatures we share this planet with. Unfortunately, their lives and well being have been on the line for quite some time now.
First off, there are two main types of elephants -- the Asian elephant and the African elephant. Thailand is home to the Indian elephant which is a subspecies of the Asian elephant.
One of the main distinctions between the two is the overall size of the elephant. African elephants tend to be significantly larger, which is unimaginable seeing how large the elephants I got to encounter during a trip to Thailand. Another common trait to notice the elephants origin is by looking at the size of its ears. It is said that the African elephants ears are usually larger but also similar to the or shape of Africa on the map while Asian elephants ears are more recognizable to the shape of India.
In Thailand, elephants are prominent members of society. While being the national animal of Thailand, it also holds strong historical and cultural significance. Historically elephants have been used for many different purposes. Transport, heavy labor, and tourism to name a few. But probably the most iconic use was that of war elephants. India was the first to start using elephants for the purpose of propelling attacks forward by elephants charging at the opponents.
Overtime in more recent years the exploitation of elephants in Thailand had drastically increased causing the number of wild elephants to plummet. Elephants officially became endangered animals in 1986 but it wasn't until 1993 that conservation efforts began to take place. The National Elephant Institute was created and soon after more and more organizations were developing to help these endangered animals.
One of the main ways that elephants are exploited today is through elephant tourism. I'm sure you've seen the photos on social media of so and so riding on top of an elephants back during a trip to Southeast Asia. But I wouldn't be so quick to jump on that bandwagon.
Why is it wrong to ride elephants if that was once their main use you might ask?
Although elephants are so large and strong, their spine isn't actually built to carry the weight of a human. This might be surprising to most but just by taking a deeper look at how they are built, it will become more evident.
Sadly, the majority of elephant tourism within Thailand is, in my opinion, a very greedy and corrupt industry. Most people while traveling here don't know much about the practices used for elephant tourism ad most don't know about the elephants physiology as well. These elephants are most often tortured in order to perform such asks that the elephant handler requires. While they may appear to be "roaming freely" in the park, that isn't necessarily the case behind the scenes. Typically they are chained by the feet when off duty and living in horrible conditions with poor medical care.
Imagine trying to jump on the back of an elephant in the wild. My guess is that the elephant wouldn't be having it. In order for this industry to be successful, elephants need to be tamed in order to be ridden. This brutal process starts when they are babies. Most often after being illegally captured these baby elephants are beaten to submission, pierced and starved for days at a time in order for them to perform how the handler wants. Now who would want to contribute to that?!
Luckily, there are now more and more options to visit this amazing animal up close in an ethical manner. Mainly in the Northern regions of Thailand there are Elephant Sanctuaries that rescue these animals and take very good care of them. Through researching different Elephant Sanctuaries you'll find out which ones are trustworthy and which ones are not. If you see a picture of someone riding an elephant, run away from that as fast as possible!
One of the most well known is the Elephant Nature Park in the South-West region of Chiang Mai. Founded by Lek Chailert, this is a nature park that offers many different options for visiting these giants. Even overnight stays to spend more quality time with them! Through watching videos of Lek with her elephants you can quickly see that she loves these animals and it is her mission to protect them. Along with visiting the sanctuary she also has many different projects you can get involved in or even sponsorin an elephant that lives in her park! You can find more about the Elephant Nature Park here - http://www.saveelephant.org
For more info on the subject, check out these great links:
http://www.earsasia.org/tourism
http://www.greenthailand.co.uk/green-tourism/ethical-elephant-experiences-thailand/
http://www.iexplore.com/destinations/thailand/Ethical-Elephant-Sanctuaries-in-Thailand
Excellent post. I was born in Thailand and came to Canada at four. I still have vivid memories of elephant parades. They marched with big chairs strapped to them and people on top waving their hands. I find the elephant business one of the most heart breaking of all.
It is so heart breaking! That must of been hard to see as a young kid. It was hard for me to see elephants there that did have the big chairs strapped to them - we of course didn't visit these places but drove by some and saw the elephants feet chained to posts while "off-duty". So sad.
I really love the real pics in this article ..Good work down.upvv
Thanks! I loved how the photos turned out as well.
It is an amazing fact that the ears of elephants do spell the continent of origin. This is an amazing fact. About the largeness of the elephants and ears, does it mean Africa is larger than Asia? I doubt that
These animals definitely are amazing creatures. The African elephant is larger than the Asian elephant in general but the ears just happen to show a very similar shape to either what Africa or Asia shows on the map - but this isn't to say that they represent the size of the continents as well. Just similar shapes is all! :)
This post is too awesome! Found you via @OCD / Resteem (-:
Thank you! :)
I remember going on a zoo ride with my entire family on the back of one elephant when I was a kid ;( poor guy
Yeah it's sad and we sometimes feel that as kids but we don't know any better since things like this are such the "norm".
Thanks for sharing this thoughtful post, @kbvictor! To reveal the story of these elephants is very kind of you. More people need to know what is behind the industries that use animals, so we can promote changes that benefit all beings. We recently started our @letsteamup project to give people the opportunity to help animals in distress through Steemit. We would be very happy to know what you think about our initiative, since we can see you care for animal welfare. Thank you for sharing your experience and your reflections on this theme. We'll keep an eye on your next posts!
Thank you for the support @letsteamup! I think the best way to promote changes is through educating one another and using this platform to do so is a great way. I'm excited to see the impact you will have on the steemit community and especially, the animals. I have a great amount of respect for your initiative!!! Cant wait to see more from you.
We appreciate your words of encouragement! To find people who actively cares for animal welfare is always inspiring... so we hope to see more of your reflections in your next posts too!
Animals like elephants are suffering everywhere. More awareness of what goes up behind the scenes should reach the common man.
Please watch the free documentary "Where The Elephant Sleeps" available on vimeo, made on their suffering in tourist-rides at Jaipur in India.
You have covered an important issue here. Resteemed!
Thanks @xyzashu! Yes - they are definitely suffering greatly not only in Thailand. It's so sad to see and hopefully more and more people will become aware of this issue. I'll definitely check out the documentary! Thanks for the recommendation.
Thanks for raising awareness to this issue. Thailand has so many other things to offer which dont hurt animals.
Id like to nominate this post in OCD.
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Thank you!
How good of you to post this. we love elephants and it's useful to know that this is going on still. I visited Chiang Mai as part of a press trip years ago and loved the place and it's people. I know about the exploitation in the African continent (for their ivory tusks) and it's such a shame that such a magnificent creature should always attract exploiters! Long live the elephant. I'm resteeming this as the word needs to get out. keep it up. JV
Thank you! It is a shame. Hopefully exploitation in both Asia and Africa will come to an end sooner than later.
The more people write about it the quicker it will end. Thank you
This post was very informative thank you for sharing
you have my upvote
Keep smiling, reading, writing and voting!!!
@mannyfig1956
Thank you!